For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Department of Justice Files Largest Ever Forfeiture Action Against Approximately $15B in Bitcoin Currently in U.S. Custody

An indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging UK and Cambodian national Chen Zhi, also known as Vincent, 37, the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group (Prince Group), a multinational business conglomerate based in Cambodia, with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for directing Prince Group’s operation of forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia. Individuals held against their will in the compounds engaged in cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes, known as “pig butchering” scams, that stole billions of dollars from victims in the United States and around the world. The defendant is at large.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Justice Department’s National Security Division also filed today a civil forfeiture complaint against approximately 127,271 Bitcoin, currently worth approximately $15 billion, that are proceeds and instrumentalities of the defendant’s fraud and money laundering schemes, and were previously stored in unhosted cryptocurrency wallets whose private keys the defendant had in his possession. Those funds (the Defendant Cryptocurrency) are presently in the custody of the U.S. government. The complaint is the largest forfeiture action in the history of the Department of Justice.

As alleged in the indictment and forfeiture complaint, since approximately 2015, the defendant has been the founder and chairman of Prince Group, a Cambodian corporate conglomerate that operates dozens of business entities in more than 30 countries. Prince Group is ostensibly focused on real estate development, financial services, and consumer services. However, in secret, the defendant and his top executives grew Prince Group into one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations. Under the defendant’s direction, Prince Group made enormous profits operating scam compounds across Cambodia that perpetrated fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes.

Please see the full release on the Department of Justice’s website.

Bangkok, Thailand – February 2, 2024: The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) and the United States Navy (USN) will partner to conduct a light salvage of the HTMS Sukhothai, which sank in the Gulf of Thailand in 2022. This joint salvage will be executed as part of the COBRA GOLD 2024 exercise and is made possible by the longstanding friendship between our navies, and through decades of joint exercises, operations, and people-to-people ties. Together, we are committed to conducting a safe and thorough salvage that honors the sailors lost and brings some closure to their families and friends.