The owner of an Isle of Man gaming company, accused of being the ringleader of one of Asia’s largest scam conglomerates, has been arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China.
An indictment was unsealed in the Brooklyn federal court in October charging Cambodian-based Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
On the same day, sweeping sanctions were imposed by the US and UK on individuals connected with the Prince Group, which is alleged by the US authorities to be a ‘transnational criminal organisation’ that operated scam compounds responsible for industrial scale cyberfraud operations targeting victims around the world.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office said they were taking the largest-ever action targeting cybercriminal networks in South East Asia.
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They said Chen Zhi could face 40 years in prison if convicted in the States.
A liquidation hearing at Douglas high court in June last year named Chen Zhi as the beneficial owner of island-based Ableton Prestige Global Limited.
The Ridgeway Street-based offices of Ableton Prestige Global Ltd, Aperia (IoM) Ltd and Amiga Entertainment Ltd were raided by the Manx police in March last year as a part of a large-scale international money laundering inquiry.
In a statement, the Cambodian Ministry of Interior said the authorities of the Kingdom of Cambodia had arrested three Chinese nationals - Chen Zhi, Xu Ji Liang and Shao Ji Hui - and extradited them to the People’s Republic of China.
It said: ‘This operation was carried out on January 6, following several months of joint investigative co-operation between the relevant authorities.
‘Chen Zhi’s Cambodian nationality was revoked by a Royal decree, issued by his Majesty the King, in accordance with the law on nationality of the Kingdom of Cambodia, in December 2025.’
On the same day as Chen Zhi was indicted, two homes in the island - at Hillberry Green, Douglas, and Majestic View, Onchan - were raided by police as part of a joint US-Isle of Man crackdown on transnational organised crime.
Media IoM revealed that the two properties were owned by another Cambodian citizen sanctioned by Washington, Thet Li, who is accused of being involved in bulk cash smuggling and managing dirty money for the Prince Group.
The Prince Group denies involvement in human trafficking. online scamming or money laundering and insists it has never owned or operated scam centres.