Who is the mysterious billionaire accused of stealing $14 billion in digital currencies? | economy

Media said that 37-year-old Chinese-Cambodian businessman Chen Qi was behind a large-scale cyber fraud network that it described as a “criminal empire built on human suffering.”

According to a report published by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the United States Department of Justice has charged Xi with running fraudulent complexes in Cambodia that stole billions of dollars in digital currencies from victims around the world. The US Treasury Department also announced the confiscation of about $14 billion worth of Bitcoin associated with it, in the largest confiscation of its kind in the history of cryptocurrencies.

On his company’s website, the Prince Group, Chi is described as a distinguished entrepreneur and well-known philanthropist, and that his vision has brought the group “in compliance with international standards.” The BBC indicated that it had contacted the “Prince Group” to obtain a comment, but without a response.

Qi grew up in Fujian Province, southeastern China, and began his activity in a small online gaming company, before moving to Cambodia in 2011, where he entered the then booming real estate market. His arrival coincided with a wave of Chinese investments in the country, as part of the “Belt and Road” initiative, which turned the capital, Phnom Penh, and the city of Sihanoukville into a forest of glass towers and luxury hotel projects.

In 2014, he obtained Cambodian citizenship in exchange for a donation to the government of no less than 250,000 US dollars, so that he could purchase lands in his name. It was also stated in bank documents in 2019 that he received two million US dollars from an unknown uncle to start his first real estate project, without providing proof of the source of the funds.

Laft’s rapid expansion and political influence

The Prince Group was founded in 2015 when Chi was 27 years old, and its work focused on real estate development. In 2018, he obtained a banking license to establish “Prince Bank.” In the same year, he obtained a Cypriot passport in exchange for an investment of $2.5 million, which allowed him to enter the European Union freely, and later he also obtained Vanuatu citizenship.

The BBC adds that Che expanded his activities to include aviation and major commercial projects, as he established the third airline in Cambodia and then in 2020 obtained a license to operate a fourth, in addition to a huge project worth $16 billion to establish an “eco-city” in Sihanoukville known as the “Bay of Lights.”

In 2020, the King of Cambodia granted him the highest title of “Nyak Okna” after a donation of no less than $500,000. He also became an advisor to Interior Minister Sar Khin since 2017, a business partner with his son, and an advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and later to his son Hun Manit after assuming office in 2023. Local media celebrated him as a “national philanthropist” who donated scholarships and contributed. In efforts to confront the Corona pandemic.

Despite this political and media presence, Che remained a mysterious figure who rarely appeared or made public statements.

A complex network of accusations and cross-border crimes

According to the BBC, suspicions began surrounding Qi’s empire after the real estate bubble burst in Sihanoukville in 2019, when the electronic gambling business that was attracting Chinese capital collapsed. Under pressure from Beijing, Cambodia banned online gambling, and about 450,000 Chinese people left the city, leaving empty apartment buildings and stalled projects.

However, despite this, Che continued to expand his investments at home and abroad, and British authorities indicate that in 2019 he bought a mansion in north London worth $15 million and an office building in the Financial District worth $120 million. US authorities say he also owned real estate in New York, private planes, yachts, and an original Picasso painting.

The BBC adds that the US and British authorities imposed sanctions on 128 companies and 17 people of 7 nationalities linked to Che and his group, after accusing them of money laundering, human trafficking, and operating “phone farms” for online fraud. Judicial documents describe the network as “a transnational criminal organization that profits from a long range of crimes, including sextortion, money laundering, forced human trafficking, and the operation of fraud complexes in Cambodia.”

Journalist Jack Adamovich Davies, who conducted a three-year investigative report on Che for Radio Free Asia, quoted witnesses as saying that workers at the group’s Golden Fortune complex were subjected to “torture and brutal beatings” if they tried to escape. He added: “The scale of the operations that Che runs is what makes him distinctive and disturbing at the same time. How was he able to build a network this vast without anyone raising the alarm?”

Collapse of trust and unknown fate

After the announcement of the US and British sanctions, Asian financial institutions rushed to freeze assets linked to the “Prince Group.” South Korea froze $64 million of the group’s deposits in its banks, while Singapore and Thailand announced the opening of investigations into their local branches. The Central Bank of Cambodia also issued a statement reassuring depositors that they can withdraw their money from Prince Bank normally.

The BBC says that the Cambodian government has remained silent, calling only to ensure that there is sufficient evidence before issuing accusations. However, observers believe that it is difficult for Cambodia’s ruling elite to distance themselves from Che after years of close relations.

Economic sources estimate that fraudulent activities via the Internet now constitute nearly half of the Cambodian economy, which makes the repercussions of the case go beyond the person of Che and exposes the fragility of the economic and political structure in the country.

So far, Che has not been seen in public since the sanctions were announced last week, and the man who was one of Cambodia’s most wealthy people appears to have completely disappeared, leaving behind open questions about Asia’s largest digital fraud case, and the fate of a financial empire that peaked with a fortune estimated at billions of dollars.