The U.S. Department of Justice filed what it called the largest forfeiture action in its history on October 14, 2025, targeting approximately 127,271 bitcoin that it valued at about $15 billion at the time. The action accompanied an indictment of Chen Zhi, founder and chairman of Cambodia-based Prince Holding Group. Prosecutors allege that the organization operated forced-labor compounds where trafficked workers were compelled to run cryptocurrency investment scams.
The bitcoin was already in U.S. government custody, but the case was not a final forfeiture judgment, criminal conviction, or completed victim-repayment program.
What happened
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment charging Chen Zhi, also known as “Vincent,” with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Chen was reported to be at large. If convicted of the charged conspiracy offenses, he faced a maximum sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
On the same day, DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint against approximately 127,271 BTC. The department said the bitcoin was held in unhosted wallets, that Chen allegedly possessed the private keys, and that the funds were already in U.S. government custody. DOJ valued the holdings at approximately $15 billion on October 14, 2025—not at a fixed or necessarily current amount.
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The criminal indictment and forfeiture complaint contain allegations, not final findings. Chen should not be described as convicted, and the bitcoin should not automatically be described as money proven to have been stolen from identified victims.
DOJ’s Eastern District of New York announcement provides the government’s account of the case.
What prosecutors allege about Prince Group
According to the indictment, Prince Group publicly presented itself as a conglomerate with businesses including real estate, financial services, and consumer services across more than 30 countries. Prosecutors allege that behind that public profile was a transnational criminal organization that operated or supported scam compounds in Cambodia.
The government alleges that workers were held against their will and forced to carry out online fraud. Reported coercive tactics in such compounds can include confiscated documents, threats, debt manipulation, confinement, and violence. The allegations therefore describe three distinct groups:
- People allegedly defrauded online: victims persuaded to send money or cryptocurrency to fake investment platforms.
- Workers allegedly trafficked into compounds: people compelled to conduct scam messages and transactions.
- Alleged organizers and facilitators: individuals and entities prosecutors say directed the operation, moved proceeds, or supplied financial and corporate infrastructure.
Prosecutors also allege that proceeds were laundered through a network of companies and used to purchase luxury travel, watches, yachts, private aircraft, vacation homes, collectibles, artwork, and other high-value assets. DOJ referenced a Picasso painting purchased through a New York auction house.
How “pig-butchering” cryptocurrency scams work
“Pig butchering” is a nickname for a long-con investment scam. The label is sensational, but the mechanics are straightforward:
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- A scammer contacts a target through a messaging or social-media application.
- The scammer develops trust using a romantic, friendship, or professional persona.
- The target is introduced to a supposedly profitable cryptocurrency investment platform or account.
- Fake balances, fabricated returns, or apparent trading activity encourage further deposits.
- When the victim tries to withdraw funds, the platform demands additional payments, or the money simply disappears.
DOJ alleges that people inside the Cambodian compounds contacted victims, cultivated relationships, and persuaded them to transfer cryptocurrency based on false investment promises. In an important distinction, the people sending those messages may themselves have been trafficking victims forced to participate.
The alleged model combines consumer fraud, forced labor, cross-border organized crime, shell companies, and digital-asset laundering. Cryptocurrency makes transfers rapid and international, but it does not make Bitcoin inherently anonymous.
Why investigators could pursue bitcoin in unhosted wallets
An unhosted wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet not held by a centralized exchange or other custodial service. It does not mean that the funds are impossible to trace.
Bitcoin transactions are recorded on a public blockchain. Investigators and blockchain-analysis firms can follow movements between addresses, identify transaction clusters, connect activity with known exchanges or entities, and compare wallet activity with other evidence. DOJ’s complaint alleges that the bitcoin was held across addresses controlled by Chen and that he possessed the relevant private keys.
However, several technical and legal points matter:
- Blockchain tracing shows transaction relationships and timing; it does not automatically identify every real-world owner.
- Possession of private keys is evidence of control, but it is not by itself a final legal determination of ownership.
- Funds may have passed through multiple wallets, exchanges, mixers, shell companies, or intermediaries.
- The method by which the government obtained control of the wallets is not established by the cited DOJ materials. There is no basis here to claim that officials “hacked” the wallets.
Seizure, custody, forfeiture, and restitution are different
News reports often compress several legal steps into the word “seized.” In this case, the distinctions are important:
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| Term | Meaning in this case |
|---|---|
| Criminal indictment | Charges Chen with alleged offenses. The government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. |
| Government custody | DOJ said it already controlled the bitcoin when it announced the action. |
| Civil forfeiture complaint | The government’s lawsuit seeking ownership of property it alleges is connected to crime. |
| Final forfeiture | A later court outcome after applicable procedures and opportunities for claims. |
| Restitution or remission | A separate process for determining whether eligible victims receive money and how distributions occur. |
Filing the complaint did not automatically transfer final ownership to the government and did not guarantee that every victim would be identified or repaid.
The international crackdown
The U.S. action was coordinated with the United Kingdom. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 146 people and entities linked to what it described as the Prince Group transnational criminal organization. Treasury said the network’s alleged online investment scams targeted Americans and people elsewhere around the world.
DOJ credited assistance from the U.K. National Crime Agency, the Isle of Man Constabulary’s Proactive International Money-Laundering Investigations Team, the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the FBI’s New York Joint Asian Criminal Enterprise Task Force, the FBI Virtual Asset Unit, the DEA New York Division, and the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service. The Treasury announcement describes the sanctions and international coordination.
The broader action illustrates why these cases extend beyond a single wallet. Investigators may target corporate entities, payment channels, property, financial intermediaries, and alleged proceeds alongside cryptocurrency.
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DOJ described the case as the largest forfeiture action in its history. That is the most precise primary-source description.
For context, WIRED reported that the previous U.S. cryptocurrency-seizure record involved approximately 95,000 BTC seized in 2022 in the Bitfinex theft case. It also reported that U.K. authorities seized approximately 61,000 BTC in June 2025 in a separate Chinese investment-scam case. These matters involved different jurisdictions, dates, and legal proceedings, and Bitcoin’s price changes the dollar ranking over time. It is therefore safer to call the Prince Group action the largest DOJ forfeiture action than the largest cryptocurrency seizure anywhere.
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The 127,271-BTC figure is more stable than the dollar headline. Bitcoin’s market price can materially change the value of the same holdings.
The unresolved Lubian question
WIRED reported that blockchain-analysis firm Elliptic identified an apparent overlap between the seized bitcoin and funds reportedly stolen in 2020 from Lubian, a Chinese cryptocurrency-mining company.
That is an investigative theory, not an established explanation for the bitcoin’s origin. The relationship could involve a genuine theft, a staged theft, or later recovery of the funds by another actor, among other possibilities. The available reporting does not establish that Lubian was definitively the victim, that Chen staged a theft, or that the United States recovered the coins from the original thief.
The Lubian connection belongs in the category of unresolved provenance questions—not as proof that all of the seized bitcoin came directly from one known incident.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Will victims receive the money?
Not automatically, and no completed compensation program was established by the initial announcement. Potential recovery depends on the outcome of the forfeiture case, valid claims, evidence connecting assets to offenses or victims, competing ownership claims, and applicable DOJ procedures.
A seizure can preserve assets while investigators and courts determine what they are, who may claim them, and how any distribution should work. Cryptocurrency traceability may help, but a wallet balance alone does not identify which individual victim funded which coins.
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People with information about Chen or Prince Group were directed to contact the FBI. DOJ directed cryptocurrency-investment-fraud victims to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Victims should preserve transaction hashes, wallet addresses, messages, fake-platform URLs, bank-transfer records, and communications with the alleged scammers.
Beware recovery scams
No legitimate recovery administrator should require you to send cryptocurrency, pay an “unlock” charge, provide a seed phrase, or surrender private keys. High-profile seizures often trigger secondary scams promising access to recovered funds.
What happens next
The criminal case against Chen and the civil forfeiture litigation are separate proceedings. The criminal case must proceed through the federal court process, while the forfeiture case must address the government’s allegations and any claims by people or entities asserting an interest in the bitcoin.
The relevant case references identified in the announcement are E.D.N.Y. criminal case No. 25-CR-312 and forfeiture case No. 25-CV-5745. Later developments—such as court rulings, claims procedures, or an approved distribution—would need to be verified independently rather than inferred from the original seizure announcement.
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The October 14, 2025 announcement involved an unprecedented DOJ forfeiture action targeting approximately 127,271 BTC, valued at about $15 billion on that date. It also involved serious but unproven allegations that Chen Zhi and Prince Group were connected to Cambodian forced-labor scam compounds and cryptocurrency investment fraud.
The case is significant because it brings together human trafficking, online deception, organized crime, money laundering, and blockchain investigation. But “seized” does not mean finally forfeited, “$15 billion” is a dated valuation, and neither victim repayment nor the bitcoin’s complete provenance was resolved by the initial filing.
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