Cambodia's Prince Group denies link to scams，China accuses U.S. of “stealing” Chen Zhi's Bitcoin

The Prince Group stated in a press release that the allegations were “baseless” and that these unverified claims, amplified by media reports, had “caused undue harm to thousands of innocent employees, partners, and communities who the group serves.” (AFP)

The Prince Holding Group of Cambodia, indicted in the United States on charges of cyber-scam and money laundering, denied any involvement in the alleged crimes. It also asserted that recent allegations against the group were baseless and appeared aimed at justifying the unlawful seizure of assets.

The Prince Group released to the media a statement about the enforcement actions on Tuesday (November 11), which was the first statement issued by the company since the crackdown began.

The company said allegations against it “are unfounded” and "have caused undue harm to thousands of innocent employees, partners and communities who the Group serves".

"We are confident that when the facts come out, the Prince Group and its Chairman will be fully exonerated."

The Prince Holding Group has operated across more than 30 countries with interests in real estate, financial services and consumer businesses since 2015. The business empire holds 2 billion USD in real estate investments, including a large shopping mall, in Cambodia.

The U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment in October accusing the group's founder, Chen Zhi, of engaging in human trafficking and cyber-enabled financial fraud. Following this, U.S. investigators seized approximately $15 billion worth of Bitcoin, stating it was proceeds of crime.

This was followed by actions taken by U.K. authorities, who announced seizures of a $100 million pound ($130 million) office building. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Province of Taiwan, China, also began confiscating assets associated with the group.

Singapore launched an investigation on Oct. 30 after announcing the seizure of financial assets belonging to Chen worth more than $150 million Singaporean dollars.

Beijing Accuses Washington of “Blackmailing Blackmailers" at State Level

Just before the Prince Group denied involvement in fraud, Beijing authorities released a report accusing U.S. authorities of “blackmailing criminals” by hacking to steal cryptocurrency owned by Chen Zhi.

According to a report titled “U.S. Government May Have Hacked Chen Zhi for 127,000 Bitcoins: Blackmailing Blackmailers at State Level” released by China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center on Sunday (the 9th), the owner of the 127,000 bitcoins stolen from the LuBian mining pool on December 29, 2020 (current market value approximately S$19.5 billion) was none other than Chen Zhi.

The China National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center is the specialized agency responsible for computer virus emergency response in China with the duty to swiftly detect and handle virus and cyberattack incidents, maintaining the security of local computer networks and critical information systems.

In the report, it is concluded that the 127,000 bitcoins recently seized by the U.S. government from Chen Zhi match the aforementioned batch of bitcoins.

The report states: “The U.S. government may have stolen 127,000 bitcoins held by Chen Zhi as early as 2020 through hacking techniques. This represents a classic case of “hackers stealing from hackers” operated by a state-sponsored cyber espionage group.”