US and UK Sanction Cambodian Casino Empire Over Cybercrime and Human Trafficking Allegations

The United States and United Kingdom governments have jointly imposed sanctions on a Cambodian casino conglomerate and several affiliated businesses accused of involvement in cyber scams and human trafficking across Southeast Asia.

Authorities confirmed that they have also seized $15 billion in bitcoin and frozen a number of luxury London properties allegedly owned by the network’s leaders.

Among those sanctioned is Chen Zhi, a 38-year-old Chinese-born businessman who chairs the notorious Prince Group — a sprawling Cambodian enterprise with interests spanning casinos, real estate, and banking. Chen is reportedly closely connected to Cambodia’s ruling elite, serving as an advisor to Prime Minister Hun Manet and maintaining deep ties with the country’s corruption-riddled government.

The US Treasury Department formally designated the Prince Group on Tuesday as a “transnational criminal organization” (TCO), marking a major escalation in Washington’s efforts to target regional networks linked to human exploitation and online fraud.

Jin Bei Group Also Targeted

The sanctions also encompass the Jin Bei Group, a prominent leisure and entertainment company affiliated with the Prince Group. The Jin Bei Group operates several high-end venues, including a seven-story hotel and casino located in Sihanoukville, one of Cambodia’s main tourist hubs.

A 2022 US federal investigation into a Chinese money-laundering network in New York revealed that 259 Americans lost a combined $18 million to online fraud operations tied to the Jin Bei Group.

On its official website, Jin Bei describes itself as “the largest operator in the Kingdom of Cambodian [sic],” boasting that it is “spearheading the much anticipated exciting and diversified high-end entertainment option in Asia!” The company also claims that “employees are the foundation of the group’s [sic] and classified as the most important assets of the company.”

The US Treasury, however, painted a far darker picture. In its statement, it alleged the existence of “industrial-scale trafficking, torture, and extortion of enslaved workers in furtherance of the operation of at least ten scam compounds in Cambodia.”

Rise of the Scam Compounds

The roots of the current crisis trace back to 2019, when the Cambodian government, under pressure from Beijing, imposed a ban on online casinos. The abrupt closure of many legitimate gambling operations left a surplus of vacant properties — a void quickly filled by criminal syndicates, which established scam compounds across the country.

These syndicates, according to authorities, lure workers from abroad with promises of legitimate employment, only to detain and enslave them in operations designed to defraud victims online. Among the most common are so-called “pig butchering” scams, where victims are coaxed into investing large sums of money in fake financial schemes before being defrauded.

Amnesty International has accused the Cambodian government of complicity in the scams, alleging that officials have turned a blind eye to the human rights abuses occurring in the compounds.

The US Treasury Department provided chilling details of the treatment of victims: workers “are subjected to barbaric methods of control at the hands of their captors including physical abuse, isolation, restriction of movement, arbitrary fines and fees, threats of sexual exploitation, and the confiscation of personal documents and electronics.” The statement added, “In recent months, numerous reports have surfaced online of people enduring horrific treatment at sites associated with Prince Group TCO.”

Record Asset Seizures

Authorities confirmed that the $15 billion bitcoin freeze marks the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever conducted by the FBI. Additional frozen assets include a $16 million mansion on London’s Avenue Road — one of the capital’s most exclusive residential addresses — along with a $126 million office tower in the city’s financial district and several luxury apartments in central London.

The sanctions against the Prince Group and Jin Bei Group represent one of the most significant joint US-UK crackdowns on transnational criminal enterprises in Southeast Asia, targeting not only financial assets but also the deeply entrenched networks of cybercrime and human exploitation that have flourished in Cambodia’s shadow economy. 

By fLEXI tEAM