Cambodian crime compound like an impenetrable fortress [Yonhap News photo] 

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on the 23rd (local time) that it has imposed additional sanctions on the Prince Group, a fraud syndicate that has committed corporate crimes worldwide from its base in Cambodia.

The sanctions list from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), released on the Treasury Department's website that day, included nine individuals and 26 entities, including the leadership of the Prince Group, its financiers, and shell companies.

The Treasury Department previously sanctioned the Prince Group and its chairman, Chen Zhi, along with the UK government in October of last year. Through these additional sanctions, it has blocked Huiyuan Group, an accomplice organization of the Prince Group and a major financial services firm based in Cambodia, from circumventing exclusion from the U.S. financial system.

Huiyuan Group served as a key hub for laundering profits generated by the Prince Group through cyber theft and cryptocurrency investment scams. The Treasury Department explained that the Prince Group invested laundered funds through its global network into real estate, aviation, and luxury cigar industries.

The Treasury Department also included associates of the group's leadership, including Hu Xiaowei, who is referred to as Chen Zhi's "older brother" and has been identified as the second-in-command of the Prince Group, as targets of the sanctions.

Hu Xiaowei, using multiple names such as Chen Xiao'er, Hu Xi, and Wu Anming, has been involved in establishing and supervising subsidiaries of the Prince Group, aviation-related activities, global real estate ventures, and illegal gambling operations.

He established the group's subsidiaries in places like Hong Kong and Singapore and managed them by appointing executives such as Hao Haoming, Kong Gaon, and Li Hui, who are close associates of Chen Zhi.

According to the U.S. government, Americans are estimated to have lost at least $10 billion in Southeast Asia-based fraud schemes. These are primarily related to cryptocurrency investment scams, employing tactics of building relationships through text messages.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated, "Southeast Asian scam centers are stealing billions of dollars from American victims every year," and "The Treasury Department will use all means to disrupt the perpetrators behind this heinous fraud and protect Americans."

In Southeast Asia, including Cambodia and Myanmar, "scam compounds" like the Prince Group have been established. They lure foreigners, including Koreans, to work through fake job advertisements, and then torture, assault, and threaten them to involve them in online fraud.

Chen Zhi, the Chinese chairman of the Prince Group, was extradited from Cambodia to China earlier this year and is being investigated in custody.

Prince Group Chairman Chen Zhi extradited to China [CCTV capture]