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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has unsealed a sweeping criminal indictment against Chen Zhi, the founder and chairman of Cambodia’s Prince Group, in a case that could add $14 billion in Bitcoin to the U.S. government’s strategic crypto reserves. The DOJ alleges that Zhi orchestrated a sprawling pig butchering scam network, combining cryptocurrency fraud with human trafficking operations across Southeast Asia.
Federal prosecutors confirmed that 127,271 Bitcoin (BTC) were seized as part of the case which is the largest cryptocurrency seizure in U.S. history. The Bitcoin, reportedly connected to the now-defunct mining operation LuBian, is currently held in U.S. custody and will be subject to forfeiture proceedings pending conviction.
This case represents a defining moment in our effort to combat cyber-enabled financial crime, said Attorney General Pamela Bondi during a press briefing. The scale of this pig butchering scam is unlike anything we’ve seen before.
Zhi, who faces wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges in the Eastern District of New York, remains at large. If convicted, he could face up to 40 years in prison, according to the DOJ press release.
The pig butchering scam allegedly masterminded by Prince Group targeted victims across the United States through romance and investment fraud schemes. Scammers posed as online romantic partners, “fattening” victims with affection and false promises before coercing them into sending large sums of cryptocurrency.
According to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), victims often lost their life savings in these scams. Prince Group allegedly operated multiple compounds in Cambodia, where trafficked workers were forced to run online fraud operations under threats of violence.
These compounds were modern-day slave camps disguised as office parks, said a senior Treasury official. Workers were held against their will, their passports confiscated, and their daily activity tightly controlled.
The pig butchering scam proceeds were funneled through a web of cryptocurrency exchanges and shell companies, including Huione Group, another Cambodian conglomerate now sanctioned by OFAC for laundering illicit funds.
The U.S. Treasury’s sanctions announcement labeled Prince Group as a transnational criminal organization, effectively cutting it off from the American financial system.
The 127,271 BTC seized in the pig butchering scam investigation is expected to significantly increase the U.S. government’s strategic Bitcoin reserves, established under President Donald Trump’s March executive order.
According to data from CryptoQuant, the U.S. currently holds roughly 198,000 BTC, valued at over $22 billion. If the court authorizes forfeiture of the seized assets, the total reserve could rise to 325,000 BTC, worth approximately $36 billion at Bitcoin’s current price of $112,738.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized that the forfeited funds would bolster national digital reserves and serve as restitution for victims.
“This is about more than Bitcoin as it’s about accountability,” Bessent said in a Treasury statement. “Fraudsters like Zhi have destroyed lives and economies through these sophisticated pig butchering scams, and justice requires that their ill-gotten gains serve the public good.”
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic confirmed that the seized Bitcoin traces back to LuBian, a mining firm formerly based in China and Iran. The firm was the world’s sixth-largest mining operation before abruptly shutting down in 2020 after 120,000 BTC went missing. Investigators are still determining how the assets resurfaced in U.S. jurisdiction.
The indictment against Chen Zhi and the seizure of the pig butchering scam proceeds mark a new phase in international coordination against crypto-enabled human trafficking.
The DOJ worked closely with Cambodia’s anti-trafficking task forces, Interpol, and Europol, as well as blockchain forensics teams from Chainalysis and TRM Labs.
“This is one of the most complex crypto investigations ever undertaken,” said David Hirsch, Chief of the DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, in a statement. “It connects the dots between human exploitation and blockchain technology, revealing how pig butchering scams fund global criminal enterprises.”
Experts say the Zhi case highlights a critical turning point for international crypto regulation. “Governments are realizing that crypto fraud isn’t confined by borders,” noted Carla Reyes, professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, in an interview. “The crackdown on pig butchering scams is not just about asset recovery as it’s about reclaiming trust in digital finance.”
With the case underway, the U.S. Marshals Service will likely oversee custody and eventual liquidation of the Bitcoin if the assets are forfeited. Portions of the recovered funds may be directed toward victim restitution programs and blockchain crime prevention initiatives, according to the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Program.
As law enforcement deepens its collaboration with blockchain analytics firms, the DOJ’s actions are expected to deter similar operations across Southeast Asia. The historic seizure has also reignited discussions about crypto regulation, AML compliance, and international cooperation to curb financial crimes linked to digital assets.
For now, the indictment of Chen Zhi stands as a stark warning to criminal networks exploiting crypto systems through pig butchering scams which is a modern evolution of old frauds, executed on a global and devastating scale.
