The arrest and extradition of Chinese-Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi to China this week signaled a dramatic downfall for the young tycoon, accused of orchestrating a ruthless online scam and money laundering scheme.
What Is Chen Accused Of?
At age 27, Chen founded the Prince Group, a Cambodian conglomerate with fingers in everything from real estate to banking and airlines as well as – according to U.S. prosecutors – cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes that stole billions of dollars from victims worldwide.
According to an indictment filed in a Brooklyn court last year, Chen and his top executives grew Prince Group, which operated more than 100 business entities in over 30 countries, into “one of the largest transnational criminal organizations in Asia.”
Many of the scam centres used forced labour, according to United Nations investigators.
Cambodia said he had been arrested after a joint investigation with China into transnational crime. Beijing had been probing Prince Group since 2020 and has a close relationship with Cambodia.
U.S. prosecutors said Chen used political influence and bribes to avoid punishment for years, and legal businesses such as casinos to launder stolen funds. They also said he had communications with members of China’s state security.
Chen and his associates devoted their illicit gains to luxury travel and entertainment and purchases of watches, yachts, private jets, vacation homes, high-end collectibles and rare artwork, including a Picasso painting in New York, according to the U.S. indictment.
Where Is Chen From?
Born in 1987 in China’s Fujian province, Chen began his career by setting up internet cafés and gaming centres in Fuzhou, and was described by the Prince Group as a “young business prodigy”.
He acquired Cambodian citizenship in 2014 through a donation and later received the title “Neak Oknha” (tycoon), though Cambodia said it stripped him of citizenship when extraditing him to China.
U.S. authorities said Chen had given up Chinese citizenship, while Chinese and Cambodian statements referred to him as a Chinese national; a U.S. indictment said he also held multiple other citizenships.
In 2014, he was abducted from a hotel in Thailand by men citing a Chinese arrest warrant and later released in Cambodia.
Prince Group websites portray him as a philanthropist who donated over $16 million and funded scholarships for 400 Cambodian students.
He kept a low profile until Chinese state media showed him shackled and hooded during his extradition from Cambodia.
(With inputs from Reuters)
