Cambodia Extradites Alleged Scam Tycoon Chen Zhi to China

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Jan 9, 2026 - 11:00 Updated: Jan 9, 2026 - 10:50
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Cambodia Extradites Alleged Scam Tycoon Chen Zhi to China

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Cambodian authorities said on Jan. 7 that they extradited a billionaire businessman to China after a joint investigation into transnational crime.

Cambodia’s Interior Ministry stated that Chen Zhi, founder and chairman of the Cambodia-based Prince Group, was among three Chinese nationals arrested on Jan. 6, according to Cambodia’s state-run news agency AKP.

Based on a request from Beijing, Cambodian law enforcement authorities carried out an operation to arrest the trio and extradited them to China, the ministry said.

The ministry also confirmed that Chen Zhi’s Cambodian nationality had been revoked by royal decree.

Chinese media showed footage of the tycoon in handcuffs and hooded as he was led off a plane at a Beijing airport by officers, with China’s state broadcaster CCTV describing him as the “leader of a major transnational gambling and fraud crime syndicate”.

The Chinese communist regime has not publicly disclosed the legal basis for the extraditions. Its foreign ministry said on Jan. 8 that it will release more information.

Cambodia’s central bank on Jan. 8 announced the liquidation of Prince Bank, a lender founded by Chen. It gave no reason for the liquidation.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Prince Group and Prince Bank for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.

‘Mastermind Behind a Sprawling Cyber-Fraud Empire’

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has previously accused Chen of large-scale human trafficking, forced labor, and cryptocurrency fraud.
In October, the DOJ said an indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York City, charging him with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy “for directing Prince Group’s operation of forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia.”

The DOJ noted that the defendant was at large. At the time, the DOJ said it also filed a civil forfeiture complaint against about 127,271 bitcoins, then worth about $15 billion, which the DOJ alleged were “proceeds and instrumentalities of the defendant’s fraud and money laundering schemes.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said at the time it had executed “one of the largest financial fraud takedowns in history,” after seizing the bitcoin linked to the network.

“As alleged, the defendant was the mastermind behind a sprawling cyber-fraud empire operating under the Prince Group umbrella, a criminal enterprise built on human suffering,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in an Oct. 14 statement. “Trafficked workers were confined in prison-like compounds and forced to carry out online scams on an industrial scale, preying on thousands worldwide, including many here in the United States.”

Authorities in multiple jurisdictions have moved to freeze or seize assets linked to Chen. UK authorities froze 19 London properties valued at more than 100 million pounds ($135 million). Authorities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand reported freezing billions of dollars’ worth of related assets.
In a Nov. 11 statement, Prince Group denied all allegations, according to reports in Taiwanese media.

“The Prince Group categorically rejects the notion that it or its Chairman, Chen Zhi, has engaged in any unlawful activity,” it stated. “The recent allegations are baseless and appear aimed at justifying the unlawful seizure of assets worth billions of dollars.”

Neither Chinese authorities nor Cambodian officials have publicly commented on Chen’s current legal status or whether he may be extradited to face charges in the United States.

Li Jing and Reuters contributed to this report. 
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