How one cyber-scamming syndicate used Singapore for legitimacy
The chairman of Prince Group, indicted over online scams, and his associates took advantage of Singapore’s reputation as a stable and predictable financial capital.
Singapore's central business district skyline in May. (Edgar Su/Reuters)
SINGAPORE — The co-working space, up on the eighth floor of one of this city-state’s many nondescript office buildings, included a few unique perks: a pool table, karaoke room and private cigar bar.
It was also a front for about a dozen companies that helped launder money on behalf of one of the biggest transnational crime syndicates in Asia, according to U.S. prosecutors, and one that allegedly made its billions by forcing trafficked migrant workers to scam people online.
The United States and British governments this month took their most significant action against the cyberscam industry when they sanctioned Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia’s biggest conglomerates, and its chairman, Chen Zhi, and froze their assets in both countries. Chen was also criminally indicted in New York.
There were properties in London: a $16 million mansion, a $133 million office and 17 flats, according to the U.K. government. There was at least $15 billion worth of bitcoin in the United States, according to prosecutors, amounting to almost a third of Cambodia’s gross domestic product and the largest criminal forfeiture action in the Justice Department’s history. There were real estate investments as far as Palau in the Pacific Ocean, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, where Prince Group had leased an island, as reported by The Washington Post in July.
But it was the criminal syndicate’s connections to Singapore, a financial capital known for its stable and predictable business environment, that most helped Prince Group legitimize itself. The sanctions and the allegations raised in the indictment underscore the city-state’s role in enabling cyberscamming, a multibillion-dollar criminal industry that has become entrenched in Southeast Asia.
These criminal syndicates lure people around the world into industrial-sized compounds where they are then forced to trick people into fake romances and investment schemes, according to victims interviewed by The Post, researchers, prosecutors in Chen’s case and others. The industry is led by Chinese organized crime syndicates, researchers say.
As part of that action, more than a dozen Singapore entities and three Singaporeans were sanctioned by Treasury. One of these Singaporeans was described as a “co-conspirator” of Chen’s, working as one of his top executives as he oversaw these cyberscam compounds in Cambodia, according to the indictment. Workers were sometimes beaten into compliance.
‘Singapore washing’
Apart from the companies and individuals named by Treasury, several other Singaporean individuals and companies played critical roles in shaping Prince Group’s image and corporate strategy, according to The Post’s reporting.
These include Gabriel Tan, who was the conglomerate’s head of communications and also led the Prince Foundation, which claimed to be its charitable arm, and Edward Lee, who was the head of Prince Group’s real estate arm.
Lee and Tan — who previously handled media inquiries for Prince Group but has updated his LinkedIn profile to say he is on a “career break” — did not respond to requests for comment. Both were also named in a bill proposed to Congress last month as individuals who should be sanctioned for enabling cyberscams.
A Singaporean law firm, Duane Morris & Selvam LLP, separately acted as Prince Group’s legal representative in rebutting media outlets and individuals who connected the company with illicit activity. The law firm issued a series of public joint statements with Prince Group refuting Radio Free Asia’s reporting on the company last year, and was as recently as June threatening a defamation suit against Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University who has also investigated the company, according to a copy seen by The Post.
A spokeswoman for Duane Morris & Selvam said the firm no longer represents Prince Group, declining to elaborate on when the relationship started or ended.
Prince Group, analysts say, represents the latest and among the most egregious examples of Singapore’s relatively lax business environment being utilized for illicit activity, whether sidestepping American export controls, moving sanctioned crude oil or, most recently, moving profits earned from cyberscamming.
A nighttime view of Singapore this month. (Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images)
In Washington, some lawmakers coined a term — “Singapore washing” — to describe the practice of Chinese companies using Singapore to circumvent U.S. scrutiny amid heightened geopolitical tensions.
It is a “pattern of behavior that has more to do with the Singapore ecosystem as a whole,” said Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore. “The relative secrecy and lack of a more active press makes it easy for companies to hide here, whether for legitimate or less legitimate reasons.”
The Singapore Prime Minister’s Office referred The Post to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which provided a summary of Singapore’s anti-scam efforts, detailing efforts to preemptively block scams locally and cross-border efforts that saw 32,000 bank accounts frozen and $20 million recovered locally between May and June of this year. Singapore, the home affairs ministry added, is also considering caning as a punishment for scam-related offenses.
The Singapore Police Force, additionally, said it is “looking into the case” of Prince Group and is in contact with foreign counterparts.
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on additional questions specific to the phenomenon of “Singapore washing” and on Singapore’s role in enabling transnational criminal syndicates.
Political connections
Little is known about how 38-year-old Chen, who is originally from Fujian province in China but has become a Cambodian citizen, first amassed his wealth.
The website of one of his now-sanctioned Singapore-based companies, an asset management firm that claimed to be registered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state’s central bank, describes him as a “young business prodigy” who “started assisting his father in their family business in 1980s Shenzhen.” (Chen would have been 3 years old in 1990.)
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said in an email after this story was published that the firm, DW Capital Holdings, is not licensed under them.
The website, which was taken offline after The Post made inquiries, said Chen set up internet cafes in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen at the start of the digital age, and used the profits to invest in real estate in Cambodia — building his “empire” there.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Chen and Prince Group’s criminal activities date back to at least 2015. Their legitimate businesses became cover for fraud, the indictment said, as they “used their political influence in multiple countries” to protect themselves.
In Cambodia, Chen is among the most politically connected tycoons, serving first as an adviser to Cambodia’s Interior Ministry and later to former prime minister Hun Sen and his son Hun Manet, the current prime minister. He has been honored with the title Neak Oknha, the equivalent to an English lord.
When Cambodia hosted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in 2022, a subsidiary of Prince Group made limited-edition luxury watches for Hun Sen, who gifted them to world leaders attending. Prince Horology could not be reached for comment.
Vehicles drive past the Prince International Plaza in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Oct. 15. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images)
Touch Sokhak, a spokesman for Cambodia’s Interior Ministry, declined to comment on the links between Chen and Cambodia’s leadership.
“Cambodia will cooperate, in accordance with the law, with all legitimate requests” from foreign counterparts, he said. “However, that does not mean we are accusing Prince [Group] or Chen Zhi of committing the crimes alleged by the U.S. or the UK.”
Chen’s influence went beyond Cambodia. According to the indictment, he was able to get information in advance of raids on scam compounds by bribing officials from China’s Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of State Security. The ministries did not respond to request for comment.
On one occasion around July 2023, prosecutors alleged, one of Chen’s associates directed a Chinese law enforcement official to extort businesses on behalf of Prince Group. Beijing has led a high-profile crackdown on these forced-labor compounds in the region, recently sentencing 11 scam compound leaders to death for running similar operations in Myanmar.
But if political connections in Cambodia and China were critical to Prince Group’s ability to amass an astronomical level of wealth, it was Singapore that then played a significant role in helping launder and legitimize that money, according to a review of the indictment, the Treasury sanctions, and corporate records of the Singapore-registered companies and people who have investigated Prince Group in recent years.
Efforts to present themselves as legitimate businesses there were so successful that, just last December, the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, one of the city’s three biggest universities, partnered with the Prince Foundation on an overseas learning program focused on expanding access to education and entrepreneurship.
NTU was also advertising an internship at Belt Road Capital Management, a now-sanctioned private equity firm that invested Chen’s money in projects across the region.
An university spokesperson said NTU partnered with Prince Group or its subsidiaries in 2022, 2023 and 2024 on a three-week overseas program “where students work with companies to solve real business challenges.” But, in response to questions from The Post, they said the university does not have an ongoing collaboration with the group.
Separately, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Singapore government’s investment firm, Temasek Group, partnered with a Prince Group subsidiary to draw up a master plan for a planned “eco-city” in Sihanoukville on Cambodia’s coast.
Temasek, in a statement, said the relationship between its subsidiary, SJ Group, and the Prince Group project ended in 2022.
Some of Chen’s associates in Singapore were not discreet about flaunting their access to the world of the super wealthy.
Nigel Tang Wan Bao Nabil, a 32-year-old Singaporean who was also sanctioned by the U.S. for his connections to Chen, showcased a luxurious life at sea on his Instagram, sailing yachts for clients whose identities have not been disclosed. He gave a tour of one of these boats, a 177-foot superyacht, when it went on sale last year for $17.8 million. He also hosted events at the Singapore co-working space, featuring high-end tequilas, mezcals and other rare spirits, according to Instagram and LinkedIn posts.
Tang’s yacht management company and storage solutions company were also sanctioned by the U.S., and share the same address as the co-working space.
These individuals have scrambled to either remove or clean up their public profiles since the U.K. and U.S. government announcements this month. Tang’s Instagram and LinkedIn profiles have been deleted. Tang could not be reached for comment.
When a Post reporter visited the co-working space two days after the sanctions announcement, its lights were off, and no one answered the door. Two people inside hid behind a kitchen island. An Italian wine and photography event that was meant to be held at the space this Wednesday was canceled, without explanation.
Source: The Washington Post
Unmasked: Scam kingpin Chen Zhi’s top associates held significant cache of assets in Singapore
SINGAPORE – They were identified in a criminal indictment filed in New York on Oct 8, 2025, as the co-conspirators of scam kingpin Chen Zhi, with few clues about where they lived and operated.
Over the past six months, The Straits Times, working with investigative journalism group Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), combed through hundreds of pages of official records to unmask the second co-conspirator, a key figure in the multi-billion dollar scam syndicate.
The search uncovered a global web of shell companies, and revealed the sophisticated system used by Chen Zhi and his company Prince Holding Group to launder billions of dollars in funds obtained on the back of foreigners forced to work in scam compounds in Cambodia.
Co-conspirator 2 is Chen Xing. Born in Shanghai in 1986, he changed his name to Chen Sokly after obtaining Cambodian citizenship around the end of 2017, according to the Cambodian government gazette.
ST and OCCRP confirmed his identity by matching details of his corporate history across jurisdictions, his acquired citizenships in Cambodia and Cyprus, and his former places of residences in Singapore and the United States.
Like many others in the Prince Group network, Sokly created multiple identities across jurisdictions. In some circles in Singapore, he was known as the wealthy businessman Martin Chen.
The indictment, which led to the forfeiture of 127,271 bitcoins by the US government valued at around US$15 billion at the time, came six days before the US dropped sanctions against Chen Zhi, the Prince Holding Group and its affiliates in one of the largest financial fraud takedowns in history.
Three Singaporeans and 17 Singapore-registered entities were among those added to the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list.
Chen Zhi, who was born in China, was identified as the head of a global crime syndicate that engaged in investment fraud and money laundering.
The enforcer
According to the indictment, Chen Zhi had enlisted Sokly to preside over the syndicate’s risk control function.
Sokly once resided in Singapore, but is believed to be currently in the US.
He was tasked with monitoring any investigations by law enforcement agencies into the group’s activities, and to engage in corrupt bargaining with foreign officials to advance the group’s interests.
Prosecutors in the indictment alleged that sometime in May 2023, Sokly allegedly communicated with a government official in China who promised that he could get Prince Group associates “off the hook” for any trouble they run into.
In exchange, Sokly promised to take care of the official’s son.
Prosecutors said Sokly even directed a Chinese official to have local police officers extort businesses on behalf of the Prince Group.
He was so confident of his contact that he dismissed the scam compound crackdown in Cambodia, saying nothing would happen to the Prince Group.
The documents showed Chen Zhi and Sokly, a trusted lieutenant, would discuss at length about how many officials Sokly had in his pocket.
A ledger of bribes allegedly kept by Chen Zhi, and uncovered by US authorities, showed that in 2019, Sokly purchased a yacht valued at more than US$3 million for a foreign government official.
Sokly also allegedly used violence to maintain the group’s dominance over scam operators.
In July 2024, Chen Zhi told another associate to contact Sokly. The boss wanted his enforcer to handle a member of the group who had stolen money from them.
The indictment showed Sokly would sometimes brag about the network’s reach. He once boasted that the global syndicate was raking in US$30 million a day through illicit activities.
According to California property records obtained by ST and OCCRP, Sokly bought a home in the state in 2019 from Fang Zhizhen, a member of the Knight Attack Group, a cybercriminal syndicate in China which predated the Prince Group.
Fang was among nine individuals and 26 entities identified in the same OFAC sanctions over their alleged links to Prince Group.
Sokly sold that home in 2024 for around US$4.5 million.
Property records also showed that he transferred ownership of a separate US$4 million property to his wife on Nov 4, 2025, a few weeks after sweeping sanctions were meted out on Prince Group. That property was placed in a trust operated by his wife in December 2025.
In 2017, Sokly announced his arrival in Singapore with the purchase of an $11 million, 5,694 sq ft apartment at 10 Leedon Heights.
A few months later, he incorporated his first Singapore company, M Capital Global Holdings, and invested just over $5 million in equal parts with his wife.
The couple continue to be the company’s shareholders in Singapore today.
He then spent the next two years registering himself as a director of at least 16 firms in Singapore. His name was removed from most of the firms between 2020 and 2023.
The firms that listed Sokly as director shared an address in Shenton Way, which ST visited. An electronic building directory showed two companies occupying an office on the 12th floor, with no apparent links to Sokly.
Former employees, who declined to be named, said Sokly typically spent between two and three months in Singapore in a year, and liked to pass time in the evenings by drinking with his associates, including Chen Zhi.
He owned a fleet of cars, including a Bentley and a luxury seven-seater, which he kept at his Leedon Heights home.
One former employee said Sokly’s son was enrolled in an international school in Singapore at the time.
Employees also spoke of how Sokly would travel with his entourage when on holiday to destinations such as Europe for a month. The businessman would pay for everything, including the flights and accommodations.
Around the same time he was busy establishing himself in Singapore, Sokly started a network of companies overseas.
In 2018, he became the chairman of Awesome Global Investment Group in Cambodia, a company which Chen Zhi established a year earlier. Sokly subsequently used the Awesome brand and M Capital to expand his list of companies.
About two years later, he established several firms in the US, according to business records in California. They included multiple companies named Awesome and M Capital.
ST and OCCRP reached out to Sokly on various platforms but he did not respond to requests for comments.
The banker
Around the same time the US announced sweeping sanctions on the Prince Group, government agencies also severed financial links to Cambodia-based Huione Group.
The US authorities alleged that the financial services firm had served as a money laundering central for transnational criminal organisations.
On June 23, the US Justice Department announced it had seized a cloud computing account used by subsidiaries of Huione Group which allegedly hosted backend infrastructure for the network.
Huione Group is accused of laundering at least US$4 billion worth of illicit proceeds between August 2021 and January 2025.
According to the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Huione has significant exposure to suspected fraud activities, including convertible virtual currency (CVC) investment scams – also known as pig-butchering.
“FinCEN assesses that Huione Group’s extensive CVC services and its online marketplace, Haowang Guarantee, has made Huione Group a ‘one-stop shop’ for criminals to launder CVC obtained through illicit activities, and ultimately convert it to fiat currency,” said FinCEN in May 2025.
Huione Group is said to have received at least US$36 million in CVC investment scam proceeds since August 2021.
That number goes up to US$300 million if including other cyberscam variants, based on non-public information analysed by the US agency.
Broadly, FinCEN said illicit actors send CVC to Huione, who then converts the proceeds to fiat currency or a different virtual currency, before moving them to a different digital wallet as part of the money laundering process.
Like Chen Zhi, who was caught and extradited to China in January, the former chairman of Huione, Li Xiong, was similarly arrested and extradited to Beijing in April.
Checks by ST and OCCRP reveal that Sokly is directly linked to Huione. His Cambodian firm LM Car had in 2022 entered a joint venture with Huione Technology in Phnom Penh. He is also closely tied to two associates linked to the former Huione leader.
Corporate records in Cambodia show Li Xiong was part of a real estate firm, Cocosili Investment, together with two Chinese nationals Dai An and Xiong Huajun.
The Cambodian firm shares the same Phnom Penh address with Huione subsidiary, Huione Life Insurance.
Dai was on June 23 sanctioned by the OFAC for his alleged links to Prince Group. Described as a “high-level leader” in the organisation, he received his Cambodian citizenship in 2017 together with Sokly, changing his name legally from Dai Dewen to Dai An.
Singapore connection
ST visited two companies in Singapore that listed Dai as a director on June 17 – a family office and investment management firm – registered to Parkview Square, but found an unrelated finance firm at the unit.
On July 21, Dai responded to ST and OCCRP through an e-mail address he used to register a Cambodian firm.
“I am writing to tell you the plain truth regarding the matters you raised.
“The honest truth is that I have absolutely no involvement, connection or knowledge regarding this company’s activities,” he said in response to queries about his involvement in multiple companies linked to Sokly and Xiong Huajun.
Dai said he was registered as a director in the companies for “administrative credentials”. He said he did not participate in any of the companies’ activities and claimed that he did not receive any money.
“The matters, transactions or allegations you mentioned in your e-mail are completely foreign to me. I had zero knowledge that these things were happening,” he added.
But Dai may have been more than just an administrative convenience. In 2017, he became Sokly’s neighbour after he purchased the apartment directly above in Leedon Heights for $6.15 million.
Meanwhile, property records showed Xiong had purchased a luxury apartment in Nassim Road in 2019 for $18.8 million.
A 2018 Mauritius registration document showed Xiong had formerly used a 14 Leedon Heights address in Singapore.
That unit changed hands to another Chinese national in 2024. Xiong did not respond to requests for comments.
In 2023, Sokly, Dai and Xiong were all listed as the ultimate beneficiary owners of a Mauritius-based fund, the Oceanic Opportunity Fund PCC, that provided Prince Bank with millions of dollars in loans.
The same fund also invested in Chen Zhi’s Singapore investment vehicle, Skyline Investment Management, until at least 2021.
In 2018, all three were also found to be involved in a Mauritius-based firm, Meritwise Group Public, along with Singaporeans Karen Chen Xiuling and Cliff Teo Kang Yeow.
A warrant of arrest from the Singapore police remains out for Karen Chen, who is closely tied to Chen Zhi in Singapore and Taiwan. Cliff Teo is on the run from the authorities in Taiwan, who are probing his connection to Chen Zhi and Prince Group subsidiaries in Taipei.
Flight records obtained by OCCRP and seen by ST also revealed that on April 23, 2019, Sokly flew to Palau and stayed at the Palau Pacific Resort.
With him on the same flight were Dai and Xiong. All three had flown in on Hu Xiaowei’s private jet.
Hu Xiaowei, who goes by many monikers, was sanctioned by the US and UK in October 2025 for his alleged role in Prince Group, where he is described as second-in-command to Chen Zhi. He had flown into Palau just one day earlier.
On June 23, the OFAC formally sanctioned all of Hu Xiaowei’s known aliases, including Chen Xiao’er, Hu Shi and Wu An Ming.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/unmasked-scam-kingpin-chen-zhis-top-associates-held-significant-cache-of-assets-in-singapore