Prosecutors in Taipei indicted 62 people and 13 companies for their involvement in cyber scam operations organized throughout Asia by the Prince Group.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office initiated its investigation in October after Chen Zhi, the founder of the Prince Group, was indicted by U.S. prosecutors on money laundering charges.
The company is accused of running hundreds of compounds in Cambodia where workers and human trafficking victims were forced to conduct cyberscams and steal billions from people in the U.S., Europe and China. Zhi was arrested in Cambodia earlier this year and extradited to China.
Taipei prosecutors said those associated with Prince Group laundered at least $339 million into Taiwan and used the stolen funds to buy 24 properties, 35 vehicles and other assets amounting to about $1.7 million. Taiwan has seized about $174 million in cash and assets.
“[Prince Group] effectively controlled 250 offshore companies in 18 countries, holding 453 domestic and international financial accounts. By creating fictitious transaction contracts between these offshore companies, the group laundered money through foreign exchange channels,” prosecutors said.
Nine people have been detained and 73 people were granted bail following Taiwan’s monthslong investigation. Those detained, who were considered senior figures in Prince Group or had deep ties to the operation, are facing decades in prison.
Among the 62 people indicted, Zhi and several others are accused of violating Taiwan’s laws around organized crime, money laundering and more. Those detained include Cambodian nationals as well as people from Singapore, China, Malaysia and other countries.
The accusations of Taiwanese prosecutors were backed up by previous allegations from the U.S. Treasury Department that Prince Group profited from illegal online gambling, sextortion, money laundering “and the industrial-scale trafficking, torture, and extortion of enslaved workers in furtherance of the operation of at least ten scam compounds in Cambodia.”
The operation in Taiwan dates back to 2016, when Zhi had Wang Tang and Zhang Yao run several gambling and money laundering operations from Taipei and other cities. Prosecutors uncovered a complicated web of bank accounts and shell companies in far flung destinations like the Marshall Islands, Seychelles, Isle of Man, Japan, Thailand and other countries.
Those indicted sought to provide cover for their money laundering by purchasing lavish homes, luxury bags and cars.
Twenty four of the defendants were detained on gambling charges that prosecutors considered to be minor. They all confessed to their crimes and “showed remorse” so they were granted deferred prosecutions.
U.S. and U.K. law enforcement agencies imposed sanctions on Prince Group and the U.S. Justice Department seized about $15 billion worth of bitcoin from accounts linked to Zhi.
The scam compounds run by Zhi and others generated billions of dollars through a variety of fake romance or investment scams that stole significant sums of money from unsuspecting Westerners. International outrage over the scams prompted Cambodian officials to adopt a tougher stance on the compounds scattered across the country.
Prince Group initially rejected the criminal accusations in a November statement but has largely folded operations since Zhi’s arrest — setting off chaotic scenes in Cambodia as both human trafficking victims and cyber scam compound workers flood out of jail-like facilities and crowd embassies seeking assistance.
Zhi was born in Fujian province in southeastern China before he became one of Cambodia’s premiere businessmen.
The status of Zhi’s whereabouts and legal case in China is unknown but China executed four members of the Bai crime family last month after they were accused of running cyber scam compounds in Myanmar. Another 11 members of the Ming crime family were executed last month for running similar cyber scam compounds.
Recorded Future
Intelligence Cloud.
Leave a Reply