Soon prison for the king of scammers? The sector of Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies offers immense opportunities, as we can see with the rise of stablecoins. But unfortunately it also attracts its lot of scams which harness the incredible enthusiasm for this young asset class. In recent years, so-called “ pig butchering » (where victims are abused through false romantic or friendly relationships before being robbed) have exploded. Recently, a major strike was brought against one of the largest networks in this sad criminal sector.
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A major crackdown has been brought against Chen Zhi, a Chinese-Cambodian tycoon, for his alleged role in a scam network extorting cryptocurrencies. The United States has made the largest seizure in its history, confiscating more than 127,271 bitcoins linked to this criminal network.
On January 6, 2026, the Cambodian authorities have stopped Chen ZhiChinese-Cambodian tycoon and president of Prince Holding Group (also called Prince Group). As reported in particular by the Wall Street Journal, it was extradited to China the next day, at the request of Beijing, which considers it the head of a vast international fraud syndicate. Chen Zhi was already targeted by American justice since October 2025, when an indictment was revealed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States. He is accused of having led a massive scam network who extorted crypto from their victims.
Largest Cryptocurrency Seizure in DOJ History
Alongside the October 2025 indictment, the United States announced the seizure of more than 127,271 bitcoins linked to Chen Zhi's network. The equivalent of almost 12 billion dollars at current BTC prices. It is about largest civil seizure action never carried out by the DOJ, all assets combined. The Prince Group has also been designated as a transnational criminal organizationwith sanctions imposed by the United States (and the United Kingdom) against the company, Chen Zhi and several associates. This case illustrates the growing international cooperation against scam networks exploiting crypto, even if extradition from Cambodia to China rather than to the USA marks a limit for American justice in this matter. But the country of Xi Jinping might also have preferred to recover the precious bitcoins, since he indirectly described it as “theft” the seizure of BTC by the United States.