Simply put
- Arkham Intelligence reports that roughly $1.7 billion in Bitcoin, recently sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, was transferred to wallets associated with the alleged fraudster Chen Zhi.
- This transfer of 15,959 BTC seems linked to Chen’s Prince Holding Group, which prosecutors claim has been involved in a global cryptocurrency fraud and forced labor scheme.
- Chen is still evading capture while investigators look into how the U.S. managed to acquire another $14 billion in BTC tied to his activities.
The suspected orchestrator of a $14 billion cryptocurrency scam, currently evading U.S. authorities, has reportedly started shifting vast amounts of Bitcoin to a new wallet, as indicated by on-chain data.
A wallet associated with Chen Zhi, a Chinese-Cambodian individual alleged to be leading a worldwide pig-slaughter cryptocurrency fraud network, transferred nearly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin from a wallet sanctioned by the U.S. to a different address.
In total, 15,959 BTC were moved to four new blacklisted wallets, as reported by the Ministry of Finance. At the time, the Bitcoin’s market value stood at over $1.72 billion.
Chen Zhi is known as the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Cambodia. The Ministry of Justice believes that Prince Holdings is central to a global cryptocurrency fraud operation involving forced labor and major financial losses for victims.
Recently, federal prosecutors announced charges of wire fraud and money laundering against Chen, who remains on the run.
They also disclosed that the U.S. government seized a substantial amount of Bitcoin worth $14 billion from Prince Holding and is pursuing the largest forfeiture lawsuit in the Department of Justice’s history.
The funds moved recently by wallets associated with Prince Holding are distinct from the $14 billion in BTC currently under U.S. control. Arkham Intelligence suggested these might be additional funds held by the organization, possibly transferred to obscure their connection to the sanctioned wallet.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Bitcoins linked to Chen and Prince Holding. Arkham’s analysis suggests that the $14 billion in BTC held by the U.S. government might be funds alleged to have been stolen.
Last week, the Department of Justice identified the company LuBian as being used by Prince Holding to launder the reportedly stolen Bitcoins in the alleged fraud.
Interestingly, some analysts have lately proposed that the $14 billion in Bitcoin that vanished in 2020 might not have been stolen at all. There’s also speculation that the disappearance could have been orchestrated by the U.S. government or hackers connected to it.
Since 2020, these disputed Bitcoins have only changed hands once, in the summer of 2024, presumably to wallets controlled by U.S. law enforcement.
Recently, an on-chain intelligence firm, Elliptic, noted, “It remains unclear how Bitcoin came under U.S. control,” adding uncertainty over who, if anyone, actually “stole” the Bitcoins from Chen or Rubian.
