A ‘global phone scam kingpin’ has had a £100million London mansion seized, along with 18 other properties, after he was charged with allegedly engaging in a massive crypto scam.

 

 

 

Prince Holding Group chairman, Chen Zhi, a British-Cambodian national, was charged on Tuesday with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

 

 

 

 

The 37-year-old’s businesses were also sanctioned by the US and UK governments as part of a joint operation, which saw him have his assets frozen, including 19 properties in London, one of which is worth nearly £100million.

 

 

 

US authorities said Chen, who is still at large, masterminded the ‘sprawling cyber-fraud empire’ and ‘one of the largest investment fraud operations in history’.

 

 

 

The businessman has also seized more than £10.5billion in bitcoin, according to the US Department of Justice.

 

 

 

The UK Foreign Office said Chen led a network of scam centres in Cambodia and Myanmar that used forced labour to trick victims across the world into handing over their money through fake romantic relationships and fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.

 

 

 

Since around 2015, Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, prosecutors said.

 

 

 

 

His accomplices allegedly procured millions of mobile phones and set up ‘phone farms’ to carry out call centre scams, which were managed by Chen and designed to target as many victims as possible.

 

 

 

 

At one point, prosecutors said, Chen bragged that the so-called ‘pig butchering’ scam was pulling in £22million a day.

 

 

 

Proceeds were laundered in part through the Prince Group’s own gambling and cryptocurrency mining operations.

 

 

 

The stolen funds financed luxury purchases including watches, yachts, private jets, holiday homes, and a Picasso painting bought at a New York auction house, according to the US Department of Justice.

 

 

 

His UK assets include a £12 million mansion near Primrose Hill, in London, and 10 Fenchurch Street, an office building in the City of London bought through one of his companies for £95 million in 2020.

 

If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison