The Division of Justice has seized about $15 billion value of bitcoin held by a person who oversaw a large “pig butchering” fraud operation primarily based in Cambodia, prosecutors mentioned Tuesday.
The seizure is the most important forfeiture motion by the DOJ in historical past.
An indictment charging the alleged pig butcher, Chen Zhi, was unsealed Tuesday in federal court docket in Brooklyn, New York.
Zhi, who’s also called “Vincent,” stays at giant, in line with the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Japanese District of New York.
Zhi was recognized in court docket filings because the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group, a multinational enterprise conglomerate primarily based in Cambodia.
The Prince Group’s operation included “forced-labor rip-off compounds throughout Cambodia,” the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned in a press launch.
“People held in opposition to their will within the compounds engaged in cryptocurrency funding fraud schemes, often called ‘pig butchering’ scams, that stole billions of {dollars} from victims in the USA and all over the world,” the discharge mentioned.
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