Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment.
The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia.
At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed.
Photo: Gan Meng-lin, Taipei Times
The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains the private keys to 127,271 bitcoins, valued at about US$150 billion, the indictment said, adding that Chen is not in custody.
If the indictments stand, he would face 40 years in prison, it said.
Prince Group has been declared a Transnational Criminal Organization by the treasury department.
“As alleged, the defendant was the mastermind behind a ... criminal enterprise built on human suffering,” US Assistant Attorney-General for National Security John Eisenberg said. “Trafficked workers were confined in prison-like compounds and forced to carry out online scams on an industrial scale, preying on thousands worldwide, including many here in the US.”
“As alleged, the defendant directed one of the largest investment fraud operations in history, fueling an illicit industry that is reaching epidemic proportions,” US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr said. “This historic indictment and forfeiture complaint send a strong message to fraudsters everywhere that we will pursue you no matter where you are, no matter who you are, and no matter your insidious methods, and we will never stop fighting for victims.”
The SDN lists include three Taiwanese: Huang Chieh, Shih Ting-yu and Michelle Reishane Wang, the treasury department said.
The nine Taiwanese companies listed are Alphaconnect Investments Co Ltd (聯凡), Alphaconnect Investments II Co Ltd (聯凡貳), Greenbay Properties (澄碩), Huntsman Investments Co Ltd (邁羽), Majesty Properties Co Ltd (鳴灣), Drew Properties Co Ltd (博居), Drew Properties II Co Ltd (博居貳), Binary Properties Co Ltd (睿督) and Taiwan Prince Real Estate Investment Co Ltd (太子不動產投資), the OFAC list showed.
The head of eight of the nine companies was the same person, surnamed Lin (林), with the companies’ address all listed in a luxury apartment in Taipei’s Daan District (大安), Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
An 18-month joint investigation by the US and the UK showed that Chen and his accomplices transferred criminal proceeds overseas and used them to purchase luxury homes, yachts, private jets and paintings, local media reported.
Additional reporting by CNA
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