Taiwanese investigators arrested 25 people and confiscated assets worth $145 million related to tycoon Chen Zhi’s Prince Group.
Investigators in Taipei on November 4 raided 47 locations, including the homes of several high-ranking members and people related to the Prince Group.
They confiscated 18 real estate properties, including 11 apartments in a luxury apartment building, 26 luxury cars and dozens of bank accounts with a total value equivalent to about 145 million USD. A total of 25 “key names” have been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation, according to Taiwanese officials.
The US Department of Justice last month announced an indictment against Chen Zhi, founder of Prince Group, a group that Washington calls a front for “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations”. In which Chen, who is said to be born in China and has British-Cambodian nationality, is accused of fraud and money laundering involving nearly 15 billion USD worth of Bitcoin.
Prince Group Chairman Chen Zhi: Photo: Prince Group
US and British officials say Chen ran forced labor complexes across Cambodia, in which thousands of employees were kept inside high walls and barbed wire fences. Due to violent intimidation, these people are forced to commit cryptocurrency investment scams, by building trust with the victims before appropriating the money.
According to US prosecutors, Prince Group has operated in more than 30 countries under the guise of a legitimate real estate, financial and consumer services business since 2015. This group uses the gambling and cryptocurrency mining services it operates to launder the proceeds.
Britain and the United States last month imposed sanctions, freezing Chen’s businesses and assets in the two countries. Last week Singapore also confiscated assets worth more than 115 million USD related to this tycoon.