$15 billion Bitcoin black gold ledger: The rise and fall of telecom fraud boss Chen Zhi

Interface News reporters: Wang Sisi, Zhao Meng

Interface News editor: Liu Haichuan

Chen Zhi, hailing from a small town in Fujian, comes from an ordinary family but founded Cambodia's largest real estate group at the age of 28, quickly becoming one of the wealthiest individuals in the region. A decade later, he was accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of being the "mastermind behind a multinational online fraud empire," with approximately $15 billion worth of Bitcoin seized; the UK also imposed sanctions on him, freezing 19 properties in London and all assets in the UK.

Even before the U.S. lawsuit, Chinese public security had already launched an investigation against him. A 2023 ruling revealed that his associated online gambling company was involved in over 5 billion yuan in illicit activities. Chen Zhi himself still holds executive positions and shares in multiple companies, most of which continue to operate normally.

Residents from Chen Zhi's hometown recall that someone once went to Cambodia to work as his driver, and returned home years later driving a Bentley; many villagers went abroad to work for him as "assistants," earning a starting salary of over a million. The villagers generally knew that his main "business" in Cambodia was fraud, and some lamented upon hearing the news of U.S. sanctions, saying, "It was only a matter of time."

Interface News interviewed several individuals closely related to Chen Zhi, reviewed the indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice, and visited casinos under the Prince Holding Group in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, in an effort to reconstruct the rise and fall of this "fraud empire."

The indictment shows that Chen Zhi and his accomplices kept ledgers documenting multiple transactions involving bribing foreign officials—luxury goods and yacht expenditures amounting to millions of dollars, as well as operations facilitating travel through diplomatic passports; the ledgers also systematically reflected the management and profitability of various scam camps under the Prince Group, indicating the floors and buildings responsible for each project, and even detailing the different tactics used for "pig butchering" scams targeting different countries and regions.

These ledgers provide direct, quantifiable evidence to support the allegations of Chen Zhi's involvement in fraud and money laundering, revealing the dark network behind his wealth.

"Such a person should have been arrested long ago"

Short, with a broad forehead and a Fujian accent when he speaks, his vehicle is a Rolls Royce, and he is always accompanied by bodyguards. This is Yang Ling's first impression of Chen Zhi. In 2020, while working abroad, Yang Ling met Chen Zhi for the first time during a business meeting in northern Myanmar.

According to Yang Ling's recollection, the bosses present were all operating casinos in Southeast Asian countries, "all Fujian people." In her impression, Chen Zhi appeared to be about 1.68 meters tall, and his accompanying bodyguards accentuated his short stature, but Chen Zhi's eyes always conveyed "a certain ruthlessness."

Qiu Yifan from Lianjiang County is a fellow townsman of Chen Zhi. He refers to Chen Zhi as a person from Xiaao Town in Lianjiang County, with a high school education. Qiu Yifan also mentioned that before going abroad, Chen Zhi worked for 2-3 years as a network administrator in internet cafes in Guangdong and Jiangsu, then engaged in data trading, and later started a matchmaking website and a gaming social networking site. Subsequently, Chen Zhi formed a team to create private servers for the game "Legend," which became his first pot of gold.

Public information shows that Chen Zhi was born in Fujian in 1987. According to the website of his personal investment firm, DW Capital Holdings, he is described as "a young business prodigy." His first entrepreneurial venture was investing in a small internet cafe in Fujian Province. In 2011, Chen Zhi ventured into the Cambodian real estate market, developing in "uncharted waters." He gradually expanded his business and established the Prince Holding Group.

Xiaao Town is located in the southeastern part of Lianjiang, facing the Matsu Islands across the sea to the east, connected to Guantou to the south, Dongdai to the north, and adjacent to Lianjiang City to the west. Due to its location at the confluence of the Min River and Ao River, Xiaao Town features unique tidal scenery and has served as a filming location for several films and TV dramas, including "Hero Zheng Chenggong" and "That Mountain, That Sea."

In this seaside tourist town, Chen Zhi comes from an ordinary family. A person familiar with Chen Zhi's parents told Interface News that the Chen family's economic status is average in Lianjiang County. Locals cannot pinpoint the exact year Chen Zhi went to Cambodia, but they "all know it was for fraud."

Lin Bing, also from Xiaao Town in Lianjiang County, stated that Chen Zhi has an older brother who is also in Cambodia. Lin Bing revealed that several villages near Xiaao Town have many people who went to Cambodia to work for Chen Zhi. "Once there, they would frantically add Chinese people on WeChat and lure them into online gambling through chatting, not knowing how many people ended up losing everything." Lin Bing's tone conveyed disdain, "Such a person should have been arrested long ago."

Correspondingly, the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced an unprecedented transnational crime case involving the seizure of approximately 127,271 Bitcoins (valued at about $15 billion), marking the largest cryptocurrency asset seizure in U.S. history, exposing Chen Zhi's "fraud empire" globally.

According to the civil forfeiture lawsuit and criminal indictment submitted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, Chen Zhi (English name: Vincent), who holds passports from China, Cambodia, Vanuatu, Saint Lucia, and Cyprus, is accused of leading one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations, causing billions of dollars in losses to victims worldwide. Nearly ten co-defendants are also named, but remain unnamed.

The indictment reveals that since around 2015, Chen Zhi built at least ten scam parks in Cambodia. These parks are surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, where thousands of cross-border workers seeking job opportunities are trafficked and forced to carry out large-scale online fraud under threats of violence.

The indictment specifically names three parks: the Jinbei Park (located in Sihanoukville, associated with the Jinbei Casino), the Golden Wealth Technology Park (located in Chrey Thom, also known as "Jin Yun Technology Park"), and the Mango Park (located in Kampong Speu Province, also known as "Jin Hong Park").

In September 2019, Interface News reporters visited several scam parks in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, at a time when Cambodia was vigorously cracking down on online gambling and fraud, forcing many scam parks to shut down or relocate. However, the Jinbei Park continued to "operate as usual," with several individuals trapped in the park sending out distress messages to reporters. At that time, it was rumored that the "boss of Jinbei Park had connections." The casino within the Jinbei Entertainment City was lavishly decorated, with players coming and going, operating around the clock. Jinbei Entertainment City under Prince Group.

Informed sources told Interface News that in recent years, Chen Zhi's parks have shifted to focus on European and American markets. Data from the U.S. Treasury Department indicates that financial losses due to online investment fraud in the U.S. have been steadily rising over the past few years, exceeding $16.6 billion.

The indictment states that the main scams executed in the parks operated by the Prince Group are the so-called "pig butchering" scams, which are meticulously designed investment frauds. Chen Zhi himself directly managed these bases and kept detailed profit records, clearly labeled as "pig butchering."

In the Jin Hong Park of the Prince Group, a ledger kept by Chen Zhi detailed the types of scams responsible for different floors, including "Vietnamese order fraud," "Russian order fraud," "European and American investment script chatting," and "Chinese brushing orders." Internal documents also included a guide on how to establish trust with victims, even suggesting using photos of "not-so-pretty" women as avatars to make accounts appear more genuine and trustworthy.

Chen Zhi is accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Given the enormous amounts involved, if convicted, he could face up to 40 years in prison.

The Establishment of the "Fraud Empire"

In October, after Chen Zhi was indicted, his Prince Group, founded in 2015, also came under intense scrutiny.

The Prince Group, located in the capital city of Phnom Penh, is one of Cambodia's largest corporate groups. It claims to operate over 100 business entities in more than 30 countries, with businesses spanning real estate development, financial services, tourism, and consumer services. The group owns well-known subsidiaries such as Prince Real Estate Group, Prince Bank, and Awesome Global Investment Group.

Chen Zhi's business empire has spread throughout Cambodia, with real estate investments alone amounting to $2 billion, including a large shopping mall in Phnom Penh—Prince Plaza.

Moreover, Chen Zhi's business ambitions have extended overseas. Since February 2025, the Prince Group has begun a "layout" strategy in China, with showrooms successfully opened or in preparation in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, and other countries. To date, internet platforms still contain information about the establishment of its showrooms.

However, the indictment reveals the true nature of this business empire: fraud and money laundering account for the vast majority of the Prince Group's income, while many of the legitimate businesses are not profitable and even incur losses, serving merely to cover up fraud and money laundering.

To enhance the efficiency of fraud, Chen Zhi and his co-defendants purchased advanced equipment for their operations. The indictment shows that in 2018, a co-defendant purchased millions of phone numbers and account passwords from illegal online markets, and documents saved by Chen Zhi described an automated call center named "Golden Wealth Technology Park," equipped with 1,250 phones and controlling 76,000 social media accounts. Automated call center used for fraud in the scam park. Image from the indictment released by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The indictment alleges that a co-defendant boasted in the summer of 2022 that in 2018, the Prince Group earned over $30 million per day solely from "pig butchering" scams and related illegal activities, with an annualized income of about $11 billion. Annually, this amount was nearly one-third