Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group has firmly denied accusations that its founder, Chen Zhi, amassed his fortune through a massive international internet scam network, following a series of asset seizures across multiple countries.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the conglomerate said it “categorically rejects” the claims and described the allegations as “baseless,” asserting that they were aimed at justifying the “unlawful seizure of assets worth billions of dollars.”
The denials come after U.S., U.K., and Asian authorities targeted the group and its founder in one of the largest global anti-fraud operations in recent history.
In October, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing Chen of leading a transnational criminal organisation that operated online scam compounds in Cambodia, where trafficked workers were allegedly forced into labour. Authorities seized roughly US$15 billion in Bitcoin, calling it the largest forfeiture in U.S. Justice Department history.
Other countries, including Britain, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, have also frozen or confiscated assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars linked to Chen and his companies.
Prince Group, one of Cambodia’s largest business empires, has operated across 30 countries since 2015, with holdings in real estate, finance, and consumer sectors. The firm’s portfolio includes major projects such as the US$2 billion Prince International Plaza in Phnom Penh.
The company said the allegations have caused “undue harm to thousands of innocent employees, partners and communities,” and expressed confidence that “the facts will clear the Group and its Chairman.”
U.S. prosecutors, however, allege that the Prince Group was at the centre of a sprawling online scam network using crypto transactions to launder money, describing it as “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations.”
Chen, a dual British-Cambodian national, remains at large.
