Scam Kingpin Lands with Head Covered in Black Cloth — How Many Secrets of the Xi Family Does Chen Zhi Hold?

Chen Zhi, founder and chairman of the Prince Group, being deported back to China. (Video screenshot)

[People News]Cambodian media recently reported that Chen Zhi, suspected of large-scale fraud and the founder and chairman of the Prince Group, was arrested in Cambodia and has already been deported back to China to accept related investigations. Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior also claimed that this arrest operation was carried out at the request of the Chinese Communist authorities. In fact, Chen Zhi — who has intricate ties with the top levels of the Chinese Communist Party — went missing after being indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice and having more than USD 14 billion in assets confiscated. Informed sources revealed that Chen Zhi had returned to China long ago and was not just now being deported. So, after the CCP brought Chen Zhi back, what will his fate be? Will he be protected, or will he be silenced because he knows too much?

According to Cambodian media reports, the Cambodian Ministry of Interior stated that, at the request of the CCP’s relevant authorities and within the framework of cooperation to combat transnational crime, Chen Zhi, along with Xu Jiliang and Shao Jihui — three Chinese nationals — were arrested and deported to China.

The Cambodian Ministry of Interior also pointed out that the arrest operation was carried out on January 6. Prior to this, law enforcement agencies of Cambodia and China had conducted several months of joint investigations and cooperation on the related cases. Moreover, according to Cambodian law, Chen Zhi had already had his Cambodian nationality revoked in December of last year.

This all sounds upright and proper, as if the CCP and Cambodia are utterly intolerant of Chen Zhi, the king of telecom fraud, and are showing no favoritism. However, Canada-based pro-democracy leader Sheng Xue disclosed that she had received intelligence long ago that after the fraud cases erupted, Chen Zhi quickly returned to China and was not only now being arrested and deported.

In other words, the CCP first brought Chen Zhi back into the country, and now Cambodia is merely cooperating with the CCP in putting on a show — even acting it out to the very end. CCTV even released video footage of Chen Zhi being escorted off the plane.

From the CCTV footage, Chen Zhi, whose hair on top appears somewhat sparse, looks fairly calm on the plane. When he disembarked, he was hooded with a black cloth by special police officers, handcuffed, and put into a set of prison clothing with the characters “Dong Kan” printed on it, indicating detention or incarceration at the Beijing Dongcheng District Detention Center. The vehicle escorting Chen Zhi also bore Beijing license plates.

Chen Zhi, founder and chairman of the Prince Group, being deported back to China. (Video screenshot)

China’s Ministry of Public Security described the capture of Chen Zhi as a “major achievement” and stated that it would soon publicly announce the first batch of wanted core members of the “Chen Zhi criminal group.”

Why is it said that the CCP and Cambodia are cooperating in staging a performance? What kind of important figure is Chen Zhi, exactly? Let us first look at what Chen Zhi actually did that even alerted the U.S. Department of Justice.

Chen Zhi, 38 years old, was born in Fujian, China. He holds citizenship in multiple countries, including China and Cambodia, and founded the Prince Group in 2015. On the surface, the company focused on luxury real estate, but in reality, he used it to orchestrate massive fraud operations worldwide.

On October 15 last year, Chen Zhi was criminally charged by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly operating scam compounds and engaging in transnational money laundering, with assets frozen and approximately USD 15 billion worth of Bitcoin seized — the largest judicial seizure in U.S. history. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Department placed 146 individuals and entities linked to the Prince Group on its sanctions list.

Cambodia has dozens of scam centers, with tens of thousands of people involved in online fraud — some voluntarily, others trafficked. Those trafficked to Cambodia have their passports confiscated, lose personal freedom, and are subjected to abuse, isolation, sexual exploitation, and forced to engage in crypto investment scams in scam parks. Those who refuse face severe violence.

Scam centers usually contact victims through social media apps or messaging tools. Under sweet talk, victims hand over money without any guard — even their life savings. This is known as the “pig-butchering scam,” and it plays out every day all over the world.

In addition, according to U.S. Department of Justice documents, Chen Zhi set up “money-laundering squads” in places such as New York, breaking funds into countless small amounts to launder them, then consolidating them through multiple accounts before spending lavishly.

Just how rich is Chen Zhi?

In 2022, Machi Chunfeng, a member of the Taiwanese male music group “Nine One One,” revealed that the sports car Chen Zhi lent him to use — the “Mountain Boar King” — was worth NT$200 million. Chunfeng also emphasized: “Chen Zhi has bought one (Chiron) in every country. He’s fierce. This is the only one in all of Taiwan. Every one of his cars is in white and blue tones.” It is said that Chen Zhi owns 26 luxury cars.

So why did the previously unknown Chen Zhi become a billionaire in such a short time?

Last year, Sheng Xue revealed that Chen Zhi is the nephew of Huang Kunming, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee. He manages and launders the wealth of the CCP’s Fujian faction and that of Xi Jinping’s sister, Qi Qiaoqiao. Qi Qiaoqiao is accused of running a vast business empire with her husband, Deng Jiagui.

Sheng Xue disclosed that telecom fraud and “pig-butchering scams” were just side projects for Chen Zhi; his main business was laundering money for the powerful elite. As a trusted lackey favored by Qi Qiaoqiao, Chen Zhi could directly access China’s Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Xi family’s base in Shenzhen — the Shenzhen Guesthouse. She also stated that U.S. sanctions against Chen Zhi could cause Qi Qiaoqiao’s wealth to shrink drastically in a very short time.

In Cambodia, Chen Zhi was no ordinary figure either. He once served as an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former leader Hun Sen. Chen Zhi and senior officials used their political influence to bribe government officials in multiple countries to protect their illegal activities. Transnational crime expert Jacob Sims pointed out that Chen Zhi is “a deeply embedded figure within the Cambodian state.”

What kind of relationship do China and Cambodia have? The two countries define each other as “ironclad friends” and as an important part of the China–Cambodia “all-weather strategic partnership.” Cambodia is one of the Southeast Asian countries that has conducted more joint military exercises with the CCP than with the United States. It has many CCP-funded infrastructure projects, and more than 40% of its USD 10 billion external debt comes from China.

Between the two countries, Chen Zhi played an unofficial but important bridge role.

Eric, a former Chinese intelligence agent who once worked at the Prince Group, revealed last year that the Prince Group has close ties with CCP security agencies and is one of the most important agents used by the CCP government to conduct covert activities in Cambodia and even throughout Southeast Asia.

Eric disclosed that high-ranking political security officials from Beijing and Chongqing held secret meetings at Chen Zhi’s clubs, with chauffeured transportation, full hospitality, and financial backing, tightly colluding with one another. Their coordinated activities included the CCP’s persecution of dissidents and Falun Gong practitioner groups in Southeast Asian countries.

In addition, Hong Kong’s well-known writer Feng Xigan, who often analyzes current affairs online, also posted on Facebook questioning why the Prince Group is connected to many Hong Kong enterprises, why there are Hong Kong people among the top ranks of the scam groups, and why countless Hong Kong citizens have become victims of fraud — yet Hong Kong police have found nothing?

After reading the indictment from the New York court, he suddenly “saw the light”: it turned out that in addition to the Cambodian regime, China’s Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Public Security were also sheltering Chen Zhi. Therefore, one could hardly blame Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security, Tang Ping-keung, for ineffective law enforcement.

As early as 2016, Hong Kong media exposed that records from the Hong Kong Companies Registry showed Qi Qiaoqiao had used the Hong Kong ID name “Qi Lianxin” to control at least 10 local companies in Hong Kong. That same year, the “Panama Papers” revealed that Qi Qiaoqiao’s husband, Deng Jiagui, established two shell companies in the British Virgin Islands in 2009, of which Deng Jiagui was the sole director and shareholder. It is said that before Xi Jinping took office as CCP General Secretary in November 2012, the two companies had already ceased operations. But outsiders believe that even if these two companies were closed on the surface, could they not simply be reopened secretly?

Therefore, Chen Zhi is a core figure in overseas wealth operations of the CCP’s highest power circle — the Xi family. Wang Xiaohong, China’s Minister of Public Security, is a close confidant of Xi Jinping. Now the Ministry of Public Security is proclaiming the capture of Chen Zhi as a “major achievement” — isn’t this a case of thieves crying “catch the thief”?

After Chen Zhi is deported back to China, how he is dealt with is entirely up to the CCP. If convicted in the United States of wire fraud and money laundering, Chen Zhi would face up to 40 years in prison. Chen Zhi himself certainly does not want to go to jail in the U.S. Most critically, because Chen Zhi holds so much evidence of CCP crimes, Xi Jinping absolutely cannot allow him to be tried in the United States. Therefore, Cambodia sending Chen Zhi back to China is also like tossing away a hot potato.

Chen Zhi is not only the Xi family’s “white glove”; his scam compounds were all set within the CCP’s “Belt and Road” projects, built by CCP state-owned enterprises, and mostly operated or supported by the Ministry of State Security or the Ministry of Public Security. In addition, all partners of the “Cambodia Life Sciences Institute” are universities, hospitals, and biotech companies from mainland China, which are suspected of harvesting organs from living people to extend the lives of high-ranking officials. Is Chen Zhi also aware of or involved in this? Once these secrets are leaked by Chen Zhi to the United States, both the CCP and Xi Jinping would be finished.

However, after returning to China, is Chen Zhi personally safe? That is hard to say. Chen Zhi has done so many dirty deeds for the CCP that he will certainly try to protect himself by keeping some evidence to threaten the CCP with mutual destruction, and the CCP will be temporarily constrained by him. But the CCP is not only ruthless toward its enemies — it is just as ruthless toward accomplices who no longer have any value. Ultimately, once this matter gradually fades from public attention, Chen Zhi may suddenly meet with some “accident” and, along with those secrets, be quietly silenced.

(First published by People News)
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