China TV shows alleged scam kingpin Chen Zhi handcuffed and hooded after arrest and extradition from Cambodia
Chen Zhi has been indicted by the United States over a multibillion-dollar fraud and is accused of directing alleged cyberscams run by hundreds of trafficked workers in Cambodia.
This frame grab taken from undated handout video footage released by China's Ministry of Public Security on Jan 8, 2026 shows guards escorting handcuffed accused scam boss Chen Zhi off a China Southern plane in Beijing. (Photo: Handout via AFP/China's Ministry of Public Security)
PHNOM PENH: Chinese television showed footage of US-indicted tycoon Chen Zhi being escorted by armed police after his extradition to China from Cambodia, where authorities on Thursday (Jan 8) ordered the liquidation of a bank he founded linked to a massive "scam centre" network.
Chen, who chairs a conglomerate the United States says is a front for a multibillion-dollar online fraud operation, was shown in handcuffs and hooded as he was led off a plane at a Beijing airport by black-clad SWAT officers, with state broadcaster CCTV describing him as the "leader of a major transnational gambling and fraud crime syndicate".
The surprise arrest of Chen is the biggest step yet in efforts by a number of countries to crack down on sprawling compounds in Southeast Asia that house tens of thousands of workers, many trafficked and forced into scamming victims around the world, in what the United Nations says has evolved into a sophisticated global industry.
The extradition of the young tycoon was announced late Wednesday by Cambodia, the base of his Prince Group of businesses, after what the Interior Ministry there said was a months-long joint transnational crime investigation with China.
It is not immediately clear what charges China-born Chen faces, and China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said authorities were collaborating to combat cross-border telecom fraud scams.
"China is willing to strengthen law enforcement cooperation with neighbouring countries, including Cambodia, to safeguard the safety of people's lives and property," ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing.
China's Ministry of Public Security said Chen had been "escorted" back to China from Phnom Penh and lauded the "major achievement in China-Cambodia law enforcement cooperation".
Chinese authorities will soon issue arrest warrants for "the first batch of key members of Chen Zhi's criminal group, and will resolutely apprehend the fugitives", it said in a statement.
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the Southeast Asian country's central bank, said Prince Bank has been placed under liquidation and "suspended from providing new banking services, including accepting deposits and providing credit", the statement said.
It said in a statement that auditor Morisonkak MKA has been appointed as liquidator. Prince Bank has about a billion dollars in assets under management, according to its website.
Customers "can withdraw money normally", and borrowers "must continue to fulfil their obligations as normal", the NBC said.
"BUILDING PRESSURE"
Chinese-born Chen was sanctioned by Washington and London in October for directing alleged cyberfraud run by hundreds of scammers trafficked into compounds in Cambodia.
Cambodian authorities said they arrested Chen and two other Chinese nationals and extradited them on Tuesday at China's request.
Chinese courts have sentenced people to death over involvement in scams, including more than a dozen people last year for their involvement in criminal groups with operations in Myanmar's Kokang border region.
The US Justice Department declined to comment on Wednesday.
Jacob Daniel Sims, a transnational crime expert and visiting fellow at Harvard University's Asia Centre, said the "vast majority" of the dozens of scam compounds in Cambodia operated with "strong support" from the government
"This arrest comes after months of building pressure against the Cambodian government for continuing to harbour and abet a now-famous criminal actor," Sims told AFP.
A change in status quo could only happen if international pressure on Cambodia's "scam-invested oligarchs" was sustained, he said.
Cambodian officials deny allegations of government involvement and say authorities are cracking down.
However, Amnesty International said last year that rights abuses in scam hubs were happening on a "mass scale", and the government's poor response suggested its complicity.
Chen faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted in the US on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges involving approximately 127,271 bitcoin seized by the US, worth more than US$11 billion at current prices.
Prince Group has denied the allegations.
Prince Bank and a law firm that issued a statement on the group's behalf in November did not respond immediately to AFP requests for comment.
FORMER ADVISER
US prosecutors accused Chen of presiding over compounds in Cambodia where trafficked workers carried out cryptocurrency fraud schemes that netted billions.
Victims were targeted through so-called "pig butchering" scams - investment schemes that build trust over time before stealing funds.
The operations have caused billions in global losses.
Scam centres across Cambodia, Myanmar and the region lure foreign nationals - many Chinese - with fake job ads, then force them under threat of violence to commit online fraud.
Amnesty International has identified at least 53 scam compounds in Cambodia alone, where rights groups say criminal networks perpetrate human trafficking, forced labour, torture and slavery.
Experts estimate tens of thousands of people work in the multibillion-dollar industry, some willingly and others trafficked.
Since around 2015, Prince Group has operated across more than 30 countries under the guise of legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses, US prosecutors have said.
Chen and top executives allegedly used political influence and bribed officials in multiple countries to shield illicit operations.
In Cambodia, Chen served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former leader Hun Sen, but his Cambodian nationality was revoked in December.
