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China’s Ministry of Public Security on Thursday confirmed the arrest and extradition of Chen Zhi, calling it a “significant result in law enforcement cooperation with Cambodia.”
“An investigation has revealed that Chen Zhi’s criminal gang is suspected of multiple crimes, including operating casinos, fraud, illegal business activities and concealing criminal proceeds,” the ministry said.
It said Chen had been placed under compulsory criminal measures in accordance with Chinese law and that the case was under further investigation.
The ministry added that arrest warrants would soon be issued for “core members of the syndicate,” urging suspects to surrender to receive possible leniency.
Chen Zhi, a tycoon accused of running online scam networks across Cambodia and wanted by the U.S., was arrested at the request of Chinese authorities and extradited to China, Cambodia’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Chen, chairman of the conglomerate Prince Group, was arrested alongside two other Chinese nationals, Xu Ji Liang and Shao Ji Hui, on Jan. 6 before being handed over to China, the ministry said.
The U.S. and Britain sanctioned Prince Group in October, accusing it of running scam operations built on modern slavery to target Americans and other victims overseas.
Washington seized about $14 billion in bitcoin it said was linked to Chen in what it described as one of the largest financial takedowns in history. China’s cybersecurity agency later accused the U.S. government of orchestrating the “theft” of the funds years before Chen was criminally indicted.
The sanctions triggered further seizures of Chen’s assets across Europe and Asia.
Prince Group and Chen’s lawyer have repeatedly denied any involvement in scam operations, saying its businesses include property development and financial and consumer services. Chen’s U.S. based lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Interior Ministry said the operation followed several months of joint investigations between Cambodian and Chinese authorities. It did not say where the arrests took place or specify the alleged crimes, saying only that the operation was carried out under cooperation to combat transnational crime at China’s request.
Thirty-seven-year-old Chen, originally from China, previously held British and Cambodian citizenship and had been appointed an adviser to Cambodia’s former prime minister Hun Sen and granted the honorary title “oknha,” typically given to individuals who donate at least $500,000 to the government. He had remained at large since being indicted by U.S. authorities on fraud and money laundering charges in October.
The ministry said his Cambodian citizenship was revoked in December. The Chinese and U.S. embassies in Phnom Penh did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Beginning in May 2020, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau established a special task force to investigate Prince Group, which Chinese court records described as a “notorious transnational online gambling criminal group,” RFA reported in 2024.
Prince Group built at least 10 scam compounds in Cambodia, according to Chen’s U.S. indictment. An Amnesty International investigation last year identified more than 50 active scam sites nationwide, which the rights group said “point towards state complicity in abuses carried out by Chinese criminal gangs.”
Scam centres have proliferated across Southeast Asia, often swindling victims by persuading them to join bogus investment schemes. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that victims worldwide lost between $18 billion and $37 billion to online scams in 2023.
A 2023 report by the U.N. human rights office estimated that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia have been forced to work in online scam operations.
While Cambodia has said it is cracking down on the illicit industry, experts have criticized the raids as performative and missing sites linked to powerful elites.
