The largest asset forfeiture in the DOJ's history: Wire Fraud and Money Laundering
By JaMia Howard ‘28
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York prosecutors are charging a Cambodian national, Chen Zhi, also known as “Vincent,” and seven unnamed co-conspirators with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. On October 14, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s National Security Division also filed a civil forfeiture complaint against 127,271 Bitcoin, converting to approximately fifteen billion dollars. The Department was granted the seizure of those funds. This resulted in the largest civil forfeiture in the Department’s history. Bitcoin is a type of currency that only exists in digital form. There is no central authority in Bitcoin; it operates without government or banking oversight. Although the Defendants have not been found guilty of the charges, the government may still seize assets if it proves by a preponderance of the evidence that they were involved in criminal activity. This means the government must show proof that it is more likely than not that the assets were connected to criminal activity.
Chen Zhi Business
Approximately between January 2014 and October 2025, the Defendant and co-conspirators have been alleged to commit pig-butchering schemes. Pig-butchering schemes essentially work when scammers build relationships with victims online over days, weeks, or months, then introduce a fraudulent investment opportunity that their funds would be invested in and generate profits. Chen Zhi was the founder and Chairman of Prince Group. According to the indictment, the Prince Group’s “key business units” in Cambodia included two real estate companies, a bank, and a global investment group. However, in practice, these businesses were generating enormous amounts of profits for Zhi through fraudulent activities that were coordinated by Zhi and his co-conspirators. Prince Group, on its website, seemed realistic and legal, causing thousands of migrant workers to travel to Cambodia to seek job opportunities. Instead, these individuals were trafficked and forced to work in scam compounds, executing cryptocurrency investment fraud under the threat of violence. The scam compounds had vast dormitories surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, and were functioning as forced labor camps. The compounds were designed to maximize profits and ensure that they had the necessary infrastructure to reach as many victims as possible.
Wire Fraud Conspiracy Charge
For Zhi and his co-conspirators to be found guilty of the wire fraud conspiracy charge, the government has the burden of proving that they knowingly and intentionally conspired to devise a scheme to defraud others by means of one or more materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises for the purpose of executing such scheme to transmit, by means of wire communication, in interstate and foreign commerce. The evidence the federal prosecutors presented in the indictment was quite substantial.
The scams allegedly involving Zhi and the other co-conspirators in the U.S. were a network operated in the Eastern District of New York called the “Brooklyn Network.” This network operated very similarly to the others; victims were contacted by Zhi’s workers, who promised to invest their money. The workers, whom the indictment names as “Introducers,” do just that; they introduce their victims to “Account Managers” who would give them instructions regarding personal bank accounts. Through these personal bank accounts, they would wire investments and create fraudulent profiles and investment portfolios. These profiles created by the account managers were doctored and manipulated to appear to show growing investment, but in reality, they did not. In the realm of incredibly rapid online scams, one might rationalize how one could fall victim to a scam such as this. To answer such a question, the Prince Group was smart in how they ran and operated the scams. For instance, when a victim made a request to withdraw small amounts of their investments, they were granted those withdrawals, leaving the victims under the impression that this was legitimate. However, when they tried to withdraw larger amounts of their investments, they faced obstacles such as transaction fees, taxes, or legal fees. Progressively, all communication between the account managers and the victims ceased.
Between approximately May 2021 and August 2022, the Prince Group accumulated more than eighteen million dollars from over 250 individuals in the Eastern District of New York and throughout the United States.
Money Laundering Conspiracy Charge
The money laundering conspiracy charge requires proof of two elements:
(1) The defendant conducted financial transactions in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce. The defendant must be aware that the assets involved in such financial transactions are the proceeds of unlawful activity, and that such transactions were designed to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, and ownership and control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activities contrary to Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(1)(B)(i). (2) The defendant knowingly transported or transferred monetary funds from one or more places in and outside of the U.S., aware that such transactions were involved in some form of illegal activity and designed in whole and in part to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds.
Zhi and his co-conspirators laundered Prince Group’s illicit profits through a variety of complex money laundering networks, such as Prince Group's online gambling and cryptocurrency. To avoid law enforcement detection, these online gambling businesses were run through mirror websites, which replicated websites across various domains and servers. One common method was to collect scam proceeds in the form of Bitcoin or stablecoins, such as USDT or USDC, which were then used to purchase clean Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Zhi had documents that explicitly discussed “BTC washing” and “BTC money laundering people.”
The Department of Justice Enforcement and Future Policy
While the legal details define the case, its broader importance lies in how it reflects evolving Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement strategies and the future of financial crime policy. The charges brought against Chen Zhi and his co-conspirators are not only to combat crime, but also to protect American Citizens. As Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche state, “...we are sending a clear message that the United States will use every tool at its disposal to defend victims, recover stolen assets, and bring to justice those who exploit the vulnerable for profit.” The DOJ’s financial crime policies are evolving, focusing on specific high-impact areas like financial fraud concerning digital assets. They are working closely with other U.S. agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. As of right now, there is no policy explicitly concerning pig-butchering schemes, but it is highly likely to occur in the future. In coordination with U.K. partners, these agencies have expanded the use of sanctions to target networks like the Prince Group. They are continuing to develop and create educational campaigns to better inform the public about the dangers and red flags of pig-butchering scams, such as Operation Shamrock and Level Up. These operations are primarily proactive and preventive measures. With the increasing cryptocurrency usage and fraud, policy updates may be needed to address and reflect this evolving financial crisis.
JaMia Howard is a sophomore majoring in political science.
Sources
Coinfomania. U.S. Sanctions Chen Zhi, Links 127K Bitcoin to Crypto Fraud Case. [Photograph] https://coinfomania.com/u-s-sanctions-chen-zhi-links-127k-bitcoin-to-crypto-fraud-case/
United States v. Chen Zhi (2025)
U.S. Department of Justice. Chairman of Prince Group Indicted for Operating Cambodian Forced Labor Scam Compounds Engaged in Cryptocurrency Fraud Schemes. Retrieved on October 31, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chairman-prince-group-indicted-operating-cambodian-forced-labor-scam-compounds-engaged
