Crypto Slaughterhouse: DOJ Seizes $15B From Cambodia ‘Pig-Butchering’ King — No Pork, Just Bitcoin

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If you thought scammers were only in your DMs offering too-good-to-be-true crypto tips, let's meet the industrial-scale version of the nightmare. 

The Department of Justice announced it has seized about $15 billion in bitcoin tied to a massive “pig butchering” fraud network run out of Cambodia and the size of the haul makes this the largest forfeiture action sought by the DOJ in history. No, your eyes don’t need recalibrating: fifteen billion dollars. With a ‘B’.

The indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charges 38-year-old Chen Zhi, also known as “Vincent,” with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. 

Prosecutors paint him as the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group, a multinational conglomerate that allegedly “grew in secret .... into one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations.” 

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Prince Group ran 10 scam compounds in Cambodia where hundreds of people were trafficked and forced to work the long con.

“Pig butchering” is a grisly-sounding term for a simple, evil play: fraudsters cultivate online relationships with victims over months, “fattening” them with trust and flattering attention, then persuade them to invest in fake crypto platforms that they control. 

Somewhere between candlelit DM chats and fake account statements, victims hand over real money — and the scammers vanish into wallets and exchanges. 

Prosecutors say the Prince Group’s compounds were where that “fattening” got scaled up to industrial levels.

Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella put it bluntly: Chen Zhi “directed one of the largest investment fraud operations in history, fueling an illicit industry that is reaching epidemic proportions.” 

The Treasury Department, moving in parallel, designated Prince Group a transnational criminal organization and slapped sanctions on Zhi and more than 100 associated individuals and entities.

The criminal allegations read like a checklist of horrors: victims contacted on social apps and messaging platforms; coerced transfers of cryptocurrency into scam-controlled accounts; funds laundered for the benefit of the perpetrators.

Then there was the forced-labor scam compounds where workers toiled under “the threat of violence.” 

Prosecutors also allege Prince Group used political influence and bribes to shield operations in multiple countries — the sort of global maneuvering that turns what might be a cybercrime cell into a transnational enterprise.

A few things make this case especially unnerving. 

First, the scale: billions stolen, billions seized. 

Second, the method: romantic grooming combined with financial fraud is uniquely ruthless because it weaponizes human connection. 

And third, the industrial logistics — compounds, trafficked workers, and alleged bribery — which make this feel less like a lonely scammer in pajamas and more like a corporate crime empire wearing a business suit.

Chen Zhi remains at large, according to the indictment, and faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted. 

In the meantime, U.S. prosecutors and Treasury sanctions are trying to freeze the cash flow, black out the financial rails, and dismantle the network’s legal and corporate scaffolding. 

The seized bitcoin sits in government-controlled wallets while investigators trace who profited, who was coerced, and where the money moved.

There are hard lessons here for anyone who thinks romance plus a crypto pitch equals a get-rich moment: scammers are getting better at blending social engineering, crypto plumbing, and organized-crime playbooks. 

The DOJ seizure is a dramatic reminder that illicit funds can be tracked and frozen — but it’s also proof that this breed of fraud is global, cruel, and often built on human suffering.

For victims, the path to recovery is messy: cryptocurrency is pseudonymous, wallets are fractal and transnational, and trafficking survivors need protection and care, not circles of bureaucracy. 

For regulators, the case is a call to action about cross-border enforcement and better victim support. 

And for the rest of us: treat DM offers with suspicion, learn how crypto scams work, and remember that a flattering stranger asking you to “invest” probably isn’t your financial soulmate.

The DOJ’s move is historic, but the story isn’t over: investigators still need to unspool the money trail, identify co-conspirators, and — critically — bring fugitives like Chen Zhi to justice. 

Until then, the bitcoin butcher’s block is under government lock and key, and the internet’s more gullible pigs will have to look elsewhere for fattening.


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#PigButchering #ChenZhi #VincentScammer #PrinceGroup #DOJSeizure #15BBitcoin #JosephNocella #CambodiaScams #CryptoFraud #ForcedLabor #TreasurySanctions #TransnationalCrime #BrooklynIndictment #CryptoScamsAwareness #FreezeTheWallets

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