Singapore seizes US$115mil in assets from British-Cambodian tycoon

Singapore’s police force raided multiple locations ‘against Chen Zhi and his associates in relation to offences of money laundering and forgery’. (EPA Images pic)
SINGAPORE: Singapore police said Friday they have seized more than US$115 million in assets tied to Chen Zhi, a British-Cambodian tycoon accused of running forced labour camps in Cambodia used as multi-billion dollar scam centres.
The seizure came after the US Justice Department earlier this month unsealed an indictment against Chen, 37, founder of Prince Holding Group, a multinational conglomerate that Washington said served as a front for “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organisations”.
Singapore police on Thursday raided multiple locations across the island state “against Chen Zhi and his associates in relation to offences of money laundering and forgery,” the force said in a statement.
Officers “seized and issued prohibition of disposal orders against six properties and various financial assets, including bank accounts, securities accounts and cash, with a total estimated value of more than S$150 million (US$115 million), police said.
Other assets, including a yacht, 11 cars and multiple bottles of liquor were also seized.
Chen allegedly directed operations of forced labour compounds across Cambodia, where hundreds of trafficked workers were held in prison-like facilities surrounded by high walls and barbed wire.
Under threat of violence, they were forced to execute so-called “pig butchering” scams — cryptocurrency investment schemes that build trust with victims over time before stealing their funds.
Since around 2015, Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, US prosecutors said.
Proceeds were laundered in part through the Prince Group’s own gambling and cryptocurrency mining operations.
“This case involves a complex, large-scale transnational fraud network that exploits digital and financial infrastructures across multiple jurisdictions,” said David Chew, director of the Commercial Affairs Department, Singapore’s white-collar crime investigation agency.
“The crimes cross many borders, and witnesses, exhibits and assets have been secured in several jurisdictions,” Chew added in the statement.
Chen faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges.
In coordinated action, British authorities on Tuesday froze 19 London properties worth over £ 100 million (US$131 million) linked to Chen’s network, including a £12 million mansion.