The U.S. Department of Justice says that it has seized $15 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) held in cryptocurrency wallets owned by a man who oversaw a global “pig butchering” operation.
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The fraud was run out of Cambodia and the Bitcoin seizure is the largest asset forfeiture by the American Department of Justice in its history. Federal prosecutors in the U.S. said an indictment charging the alleged perpetrator, Chen Zhi, has been issued in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
However, while the U.S. Justice Department has seized his Bitcoin, Zhi himself, who is also known as “Vincent,” remains at large and is not in custody, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Elaborate Scam
Zhi has been identified as the founder of Prince Holding Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Cambodia that operates dozens of business entities in more than 30 countries. The Prince Group’s operations include “forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia,” claims the U.S. Attorney’s Office in its court filing.
In a news release announcing the Bitcoin seizure, U.S. justice officials said that Zhi oversaw operations where “individuals held against their will in the compounds engaged in cryptocurrency investment fraud schemes, known as ‘pig butchering’ scams, that stole billions of dollars from victims in the United States and around the world.”
U.S. prosecutors also said that hundreds of people were trafficked and forced to work in the scam compounds, “often under the threat of violence.”
Is Bitcoin a Buy?
Most analysts don’t offer ratings or price targets on Bitcoin. So instead, we’ll look at the three-month performance of BTC. As one can see in the chart below, the price of Bitcoin has fallen 3.43% in the last 12 weeks.
