The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned four people and 41 companies it says help Cambodia's Prince Group hide and move scam proceeds, plus a Malaysian man it accuses of running a scam operation in Madagascar that targeted Americans, the department announced Thursday. By naming offshore shells, lenders and their managers, the action puts banks, crypto platforms and corporate-services firms on notice to look harder at who they do business with.
What Happened
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 46 targets. Forty-five fall under an executive order on transnational criminal organizations; the 46th, Chui Kok Wa, was named under an order covering malicious cyber-enabled activity.
Treasury says senior Prince Group executives "relied on layers of offshore holding companies, foreign entities, nominee directors, and corporate service providers" to keep control of assets while hiding who owned them. Those named include Qiu Yong, who Treasury says controls British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong companies for the group, and Visal Pang, a Cambodian associate the United Kingdom sanctioned in March. The companies include Hong Kong money lenders, offshore shelf companies and Cambodian businesses in property, hotels, insurance and aviation, among them Prince International Airlines.
Treasury says Chui led scammers in Madagascar who took more than $400,000 from Americans, including by stealing digital assets. The Record reported that prosecutors indicted him the week before, alleging he drained $516,695 from 74 victims' cryptocurrency wallets. The charges are allegations; he has not been convicted.
"Cyber scam syndicates continue to steal billions of dollars from American victims while relying on sophisticated international business networks to launder their illicit proceeds," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the release.
Why It Matters
Designation means any property of the targets that is in the U.S. or held by U.S. persons must be frozen and reported to OFAC, and Americans are generally barred from dealing with them. Companies owned 50% or more by blocked persons are blocked too, even if they are not named. OFAC can impose civil penalties without proof that a violation was intentional.
For compliance teams, the risk sits in ordinary-looking vehicles: a Hong Kong lender, an offshore holding company, a Cambodian insurer. Screening has to reach directors and beneficial owners, not stop at the names on the list.
What to Watch
The action builds on Treasury's Prince Group designations in October 2025 and June 2026. The Record said the U.S. earlier seized more than $15 billion in cryptocurrency tied to the company and its chief executive, Chen Zhi, who was later extradited to China. Next are Chui's prosecution and further actions under a March executive order directing agencies to fight cyber-enabled fraud against Americans.
