Taipei prosecutors have detained 25 individuals and confiscated more than NT$4.5 billion (US$145 million) in assets connected to Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group, an empire led by businessman Chen Zhi, who was charged in the United States for wire fraud and money laundering. The detentions and seizures mark Taiwan’s largest move yet in a sweeping international effort against a cross-border scam network spanning Asia and beyond.
Taipei Crackdown Follows U.S. Sanctions and Global Fraud Allegations
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office announced the coordinated operation on November 4, saying Chen, a China-born Cambodian tycoon, is suspected of using shell companies and complex business structures to launder illicit proceeds from large-scale online scams run out of Cambodia. The raids followed Chen’s indictment by U.S. prosecutors on October 8 and sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) six days later. Those sanctions targeted three Taiwanese nationals and nine Taiwan-based companies believed to be tied to the network.
Taiwan’s prosecutors launched a joint task force with the Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency on October 15 after receiving intelligence from U.S. authorities. The task force began tracing Chen’s financial flows through Taiwan’s real estate and investment markets.
Authorities carried out 47 simultaneous searches on homes and offices linked to senior Prince Group figures, including those of Taiwan Prince Real Estate Investment Co. and Alphaconnect Investments Co. By day’s end, 25 suspects were detained and 10 witnesses were summoned for questioning.
Investigators seized 18 properties, among them 11 high-end apartments and 48 parking spaces in Taipei’s upscale Peace Palace complex, collectively worth NT$3.81 billion. The Taipei District Court later confirmed the seizure of these assets in a ruling dated October 27.
As reported by Focus Taiwan, officials also confiscated 26 luxury vehicles, including Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Bugatti models valued at nearly NT$478 million, along with 60 bank accounts containing NT$236 million. Combined, the assets amounted to roughly NT$4.53 billion (US$145 million).
According to Taiwan’s Investigation Bureau, Prince Group’s criminal operations extended beyond online scams, encompassing forced-labor compounds in Cambodia where workers were coerced into carrying out cryptocurrency and gambling fraud. Proceeds were then funneled through front companies into luxury goods and real estate investments to disguise their criminal origins.
Global Authorities Coordinate Seizures
Chen Zhi’s legal troubles have triggered a domino effect of enforcement actions across Asia and Europe. In Singapore, authorities announced on October 30 that they had frozen financial assets, a yacht, and large quantities of liquor worth more than S$150 million (US$114 million) linked to Chen. On the same day as Taiwan’s arrests, Hong Kong police disclosed the seizure of HK$2.75 billion (US$353 million) in cash, stocks, and funds attributed to the same network.
Meanwhile, U.K. investigators confiscated a £12 million (US$15.6 million) mansion in North London and a £100 million (US$130 million) commercial property as part of their joint probe with the U.S.
The U.S. Justice Department has described the Prince Group as a façade for “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations.” Prosecutors allege that since 2015, the conglomerate has operated under the guise of real estate, finance, and consumer services across more than 30 countries, while concealing a web of cyber fraud and forced-labor operations.
Chen, who holds both Cambodian and British citizenship, allegedly oversaw “pig butchering” scams—fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes that lure victims with trust-building tactics before stealing their funds. According to the indictment, Chen once boasted that these scams generated as much as $30 million per day.
Once considered part of Cambodia’s business elite, Chen was granted the honorary title “neak oknha,” similar to a British lordship, and served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former Prime Minister Hun Sen. Cambodia’s Minister of Information Pheaktra Neth declined to comment when asked about Chen’s political ties.
As international probes continue, the Prince Holding Group has yet to issue any formal statement. However, the widening scale of global asset freezes suggests mounting pressure on what U.S. authorities have characterized as an industrial-scale criminal enterprise.
