The Department of Justice has seized about $15 billion worth of bitcoin held in cryptocurrency wallets owned by a man who oversaw a massive "pig butchering" fraud operation based in Cambodia, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The seizure is the largest forfeiture action sought by the DOJ in history.
An indictment charging the alleged pig butcher, Chen Zhi, with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy was unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
Zhi, a 38-year-old Chinese-born emigre who is also known as "Vincent," remains at large, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. Zhi faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
He was identified in court filings as the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group, a multinational business conglomerate based in Cambodia, which prosecutors said grew "in secret .... into one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations." The Prince Group allegedly operates 10 scam compounds in Cambodia.
The Treasury Department, in parallel action on Tuesday, designated Prince Group as a transnational criminal organization and announced sanctions against the Zhi and more than 100 associated individuals and entities, for their roles in alleged illicit activity.