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Homepage > News > Business > Alleged ‘pig butchering’ mastermind arrested in Cambodia Chen ‘Vincent’ Zhi, the alleged ringleader of one of the largest scam operations in Southeast Asia and wanted by the United States Justice Department, was arrested on January 7 in Cambodia and extradited to China, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Chen was born in China but resided in Cambodia, where he founded the Prince Holding Group (also known as the Prince Group), described as “one of Cambodia‘s largest conglomerates.” The company has various legitimate interests, including real estate, airlines, and financial services, but is better known for its alleged illicit activity, namely running one of the largest ‘pig butchering’ scam compounds in the world. In October 2025, Chen was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his alleged part in the scheme, with the DOJ seizing digital wallets containing 127,217 BTC tokens worth ~$15 billion that it said were stolen from U.S. citizens and other global victims of Chen’s criminal enterprise. The indictment and historic forfeiture were the largest in DOJ history. Allegedly, Chen and Prince Group allegedly held individuals against their will at compounds and forced them to run digital asset fraud schemes, referred to as “pig butchering” scams, in which they built relationships with unsuspecting users before stealing their funds. “The defendant was the mastermind behind a sprawling cyber-fraud empire operating under the Prince Group umbrella, a criminal enterprise built on human suffering,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg, at the time of the indictment. “Trafficked workers were confined in prison-like compounds and forced to carry out online scams on an industrial scale, preying on thousands worldwide, including many here in the United States.” The indictment alleged that Chen was…

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Filed under: News - @ January 12, 2026 2:28 pm