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OFAC adds 45 Prince Group-linked targets, cites $14B BTC forfeiture tied to Chen Zhi

Treasury on Nov 5 sanctioned 45 more targets tied to Cambodia-based Prince Group — 4 individuals and 41 offshore entities under E.O. 13581 — plus one scam-network leader under E.O. 13694.

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The U.S. Treasury on November 5, 2026 sanctioned 45 more targets tied to the Prince Group scam network run by chairman Chen Zhi: four individuals and 41 entities under Executive Order 13581 (transnational criminal organizations). A separate designation under Executive Order 13694 named Chui Kok Wa, a Malaysian national based in Madagascar, for a scam network that defrauded Americans of over $400,000. Primary source: Treasury release "Treasury Targets Global Scam Networks and the Corporate Infrastructure That Enables Them" (OFAC recent actions, Nov 5); secondary coverage from Decrypt.

Who was designated

Treasury named four individuals in the Prince Group tranche:

  • Qiu Yong — controls British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong shell companies for Prince Group, including money-lending and wine businesses.
  • Zhao Mengyao (a.k.a. Amy Zhao) — Qiu Yong's personal assistant.
  • He Yujing — wife of Prince Group executive Chen Bo; reportedly received ownership of his Tokyo property.
  • Visal Pang — Chen Bo associate who controls 11 Cambodian companies.

The 41 entity designations span Hong Kong (Premium Financial Limited, Solar Scape Financial Limited, Direct Astute HK Limited, several "Glad" vehicles), the BVI (Sun Speed Holdings, Solar Scape Limited, Direct Astute Limited, Celestial Drive Limited, Sino Sagacious Limited, others), Cambodia (11 Chen Bo-linked companies including Prince International Airlines, CB General Insurance, and Asian Welfare Lotteries; 11 Visal Pang-linked companies including Cambodia First Unite Construction Group and Marco Polo Hotel; plus Super Light Speed Kh Technology), Singapore (Chen Hua Holdings, Greenbay Multi Media), Mauritius (Meritwise Group Public), and Malaysia (Greenmeadows Properties).

Chui Kok Wa was listed under the separate cyber-activity order E.O. 13694.

The on-chain and forfeiture figures

  • The U.S. is seeking forfeiture of roughly $14 billion in Bitcoin tied to Prince Group.
  • The Scam Center Strike Force reports $580 million in crypto seizures and freezes to date.
  • FinCEN has linked approximately $12.7 billion in reported financial activity to suspected crypto investment scams.
  • UNODC estimates scam-compound operations cost victims $88.3B–$114.1B in 2025.

No specific wallet addresses are listed in Treasury's release.

Why this round matters

Chen Zhi was first designated on October 14, 2025, with further Prince Group tranches in October 2025 and June 2026. Thursday's round targets the corporate plumbing — nominees, offshore holding companies, administrators — that let the network's principals keep operating assets after earlier designations. Treasury's framing is explicit: "offshore companies, nominee owners, and administrators" that helped Prince Group executives hide assets and evade earlier sanctions.

For on-chain compliance teams, the operative change is the entity list, not a new address blocklist. Every BVI, HK, Cambodian and Singaporean entity named is now an SDN under E.O. 13581 as amended by E.O. 13863; U.S.-touching counterparties that service them face secondary-sanctions risk whether or not addresses are published.

Action checklist

  1. Pull the full SDN list update from OFAC's November 5 recent actions page and ingest the 45 new identifiers into KYC/counterparty screening.
  2. Re-screen existing counterparty records for the named individuals (Qiu Yong, Zhao Mengyao, He Yujing, Visal Pang) and Chen Bo's 11 Cambodian entities — several carry Latin-script name variants that older screens may miss.
  3. Watch for a follow-up OFAC action naming specific wallet addresses tied to the $14B BTC forfeiture target: that's where crypto-specific blocklist work begins.
  4. On Prince Group's prior tranches, check that the October 2025 and June 2026 designations are current in your screening data — the new release names them as the parties that moved assets after those earlier sanctions.

Context

This is the third major Prince Group-focused OFAC round in 13 months. The October 14, 2025 action designated Chen Zhi and the core network; June 2026 added affiliates; November 5, 2026 targets the hide-and-move infrastructure. The parallel DOJ extradition of Zheng Zhao from the Netherlands this fall, and the FBI's ongoing TraderTraitor and scam-compound workstreams, put Southeast Asia-based crypto-investment scams at the center of U.S. sanctions and enforcement attention in Q4 2026.

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