Cambodia freezes nearly $1B in Prince Group assets as scam crackdown deepens

Cambodia has joined the international squeeze on assets tied to the Prince Group after courts authorized the country to freeze nearly $1 billion worth of assets, extending a streak of cross-border crackdowns that started after the group’s founder, Chen Zhi, was extradited to China.

It is important to note that freezes are confiscations. 

The head of the secretariat of Cambodia’s Commission for Combating Technology-enabled Scams, Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, speaking about the provisional nature of the orders, said the decision on whether the country gets to keep the frozen assets is up to judges, per reporting by The Phnom Penh Post.

What did Cambodia freeze from Prince Group? 

According to Sinarith, the $1 billion in assets that Cambodia froze from Prince Group includes more than $300 million in cash across multiple bank accounts, as well as buildings, casinos, real estate parcels, and movable property. 

Cambodia has been hot on Chen Zhi’s trail since December 2025, when the Cambodian citizenship Chen earned in 2014 was revoked via a royal decree. By January 6, he was arrested by Cambodian police and extradited to China.

Two days later, the National Bank of Cambodia ordered the Chen-founded lender, Prince Bank, into liquidation. 

Investigators have attributed roughly 198 companies to Chen’s Prince Group, with 98 inside Cambodia and 100 overseas.

That sequence of events marked a sharp turn in fortunes for Chen, who at one point advised two generations of Cambodian leaders, Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, Hun Sen. 

Other Prince Group members are also in custody

Chen Zhi is not the only top-level Prince Group executive to have been arrested or arraigned in court. Others include Li Song, Liu Yin, Eang Soklim, Eng Dara and Huang Ron. There are court warrants out for 32 accused people in total, with four others under judicial supervision and five more suspects still being identified.

Eng Dara, a 45-year-old Cambodian businessman and former director of Jin Bei Group, drew sanctions from both the UK and US in 2025 over suspected involvement in scam centers accused of forced labor. Eang Soklim was named as the figurehead of a scam compound in Prey Veng province.

Cambodia is seeking INTERPOL Red Notices for another 29 people suspected to have fled the country. It is also sharing intelligence with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and China’s Ministry of Public Security.

The US Bitcoin case is still unfinished

Washington is in a comparable holding pattern. The US Justice Department seized roughly 127,271 Bitcoin in October 2025, valued at $15 billion then and around $9 billion by March 2026, in what it called its largest forfeiture ever. Blockchain firm Elliptic traced the coins to LuBian, a mining operation with ties to China and Iran.

The Bitcoin remains in government custody, and the forfeiture has not been finalized. The ICIJ reported that the Justice Department has rejected claims filed by lawyers for hundreds of alleged scam victims.

Other jurisdictions have piled on. Hong Kong’s High Court froze about $1.1 billion in Chen’s deposits, properties and shares, Cryptopolitan reported, and Britain has frozen London mansions tied to alleged Prince Group associate Hu Xiaowei. 

Chen faces fraud and illegal gambling charges in China and up to 40 years if convicted of US wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Prince Group has denied wrongdoing.