DOJ seizes $15 billion in Bitcoin from Cambodia pig slaughter scandal.

[As-Soon-As]

The Department of Justice has seized about $15 billion worth of bitcoin held by a man who oversaw a massive "pig butchering" fraud operation based in Cambodia, prosecutors said.
The seizure is the largest forfeiture action by the DOJ in history.
An indictment charging the alleged scammer, Chen Zhi, was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
The Department of Justice has seized about $15 billion worth of bitcoin held in cryptocurrency wallets owned by a man who oversaw a massive "pig butchering" fraud operation based in Cambodia, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Information Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/14/bitcoin-doj-chen-zhi-pig-butchering-scam.html





I think it was a whale investor, because this investor seized Bitcoin from Wall owned by him. This investor had been hoarding old Bitcoin for a long time, Cambodian prosecutors said that this seized Bitcoin is the largest seizure in history, they have never seized so many Bitcoins before. This will be unique in the history of the world, because he was an old and whale investor.

But I want to say, what would you do if you were the owner of this $15 billion Bitcoin wallet?

[Dave1]

For the record this is the official document:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chairman-prince-group-indicted-operating-cambodian-forced-labor-scam-compounds-engaged

Now, it's the question whether this will be added to the US Bitcoin reserved as this is seized assets?

Or the US going to give it back to the victims as sort of compensation? (Unless there's no way to identify those victims).

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

[AirtelBuzz]

Now, it's the question whether this will be added to the US Bitcoin reserved as this is seized assets?

Apparently, it seems that it will be linked to US Bitcoin Reserve as they have done so before. It seems very surprising to me that the United States has always been very enthusiastic about Bitcoin but they are now leading in terms of Bitcoin seized alone. Senator Cynthia Lummins has already outlined two urgent priorities for Congress regarding the country's seizure of 127K bitcoins.

In fact, this senator has a different view on these bitcoins because he thinks they will strengthen the country's strategic bitcoin reserve. Anyway, we can see that DOJ already has this as the biggest confiscated in their history.

Senator Cynthia Lummis outlines two urgent priorities for Congress following the seizure of 127K Bitcoin. Passing digital asset market structure and codifying how seized Bitcoin strengthens America's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

[Free Market Capitalist]

Now, it's the question whether this will be added to the US Bitcoin reserved as this is seized assets?

Apparently, it seems that it will be linked to US Bitcoin Reserve as they have done so before. It seems very surprising to me that the United States has always been very enthusiastic about Bitcoin but they are now leading in terms of Bitcoin seized alone. Senator Cynthia Lummins has already outlined two urgent priorities for Congress regarding the country's seizure of 127K bitcoins.

That's what they should do, especially since it's a budget-neutral way to increase the US's Bitcoin holdings. Added to the 200K bitcoins they are supposed to have, this represents a 63.5% increase in one shot. It would also mean significantly distancing itself from the second largest holder, China.

[NotATether]

Don't write "pig slaughter". You made me think an illegal pig farm owner was apprehended.

So now we know where our stolen crypto goes when we get scammed. It eventually makes its way to the government. Better than the criminals holding it I guess, but nobody should expect to be refunded.

Hopefully this gets credited to my W9 tax return though

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

The Department of Justice has seized about $15 billion worth of bitcoin held by a man who oversaw a massive "pig butchering" fraud operation based in Cambodia,

But if I may asked, how is big butchering or slaughtering now considered a fraud in the first place? Or is pig not an animal anymore to be slaughtered and killed for human consumption? Because to be frankly speaking, I think I do not truly understand what this is all about, and why his Bitcoin had to be seized for operating a big pig farm where he slaughters and kill pigs for human consumption. Because here in Nigeria and most especially the North Central part of Nigeria, pig is actually one of the most common meat been used for our daily cooking and celebrations. Or is it actually a crime to kill pig in the state of Cambodia?

But I want to say, what would you do if you were the owner of this $15 billion Bitcoin wallet?

Considering the current price of Bitcoin right now been valued at $112,000 per BTC, I'm pretty sure $15 billion should have been roughly over 133,928 Bitcoin. Which is actually such a huge sum of money. And who knows if he could have bought this Bitcoin 10yrs or 15yrs ago, and you just come now and wants to collect all his life savings. That's absolutely absurd, inasmuch as the Bitcoin was not gotten through an illegal means. But if it was gotten through illegal means, then it is okay for the government to seize it.

[Yaunfitda]

Now, it's the question whether this will be added to the US Bitcoin reserved as this is seized assets?

Apparently, it seems that it will be linked to US Bitcoin Reserve as they have done so before. It seems very surprising to me that the United States has always been very enthusiastic about Bitcoin but they are now leading in terms of Bitcoin seized alone. Senator Cynthia Lummins has already outlined two urgent priorities for Congress regarding the country's seizure of 127K bitcoins.

That's what they should do, especially since it's a budget-neutral way to increase the US's Bitcoin holdings. Added to the 200K bitcoins they are supposed to have, this represents a 63.5% increase in one shot. It would also mean significantly distancing itself from the second largest holder, China.

Yes, it might be good for the US to add it to their reserved. It hasn't been reflected in their holding yet though, https://intel.arkm.com/explorer/entity/usg. They still have ~198,000. And before we thought that they are going to buy, but it was now clear that their reserve might came from this case, seized and confiscated Bitcoin from this criminals. They have been the leader, second is China. And again, there also seems to be a "Bitcoin race" between this two nation. With the additional seized Bitcoin, US will remain on top of the food chain. But as far as China's Bitcoin holdings, I don't know if there is an accurate tracker right now. We all know that news from China is also obscured, specially with regards with crypto in general.

[Zlantann]

But if I may asked, how is big butchering or slaughtering now considered a fraud in the first place? Or is pig not an animal anymore to be slaughtered and killed for human consumption? Because to be frankly speaking, I think I do not truly understand what this is all about, and why his Bitcoin had to be seized for operating a big pig farm where he slaughters and kill pigs for human consumption. Because here in Nigeria and most especially the North Central part of Nigeria, pig is actually one of the most common meat been used for our daily cooking and celebrations. Or is it actually a crime to kill pig in the state of Cambodia?

The term Pig slaughtering originated from a Chinese phrase, "Shā Zhū Pán". It simply depicts online investment fraud and romance scams. So the $15 billion worth of bitcoin was obtained through fraud and not the normal animal pig slaughtering business.       

Now, it's the question whether this will be added to the US Bitcoin reserved as this is seized assets?

Or the US going to give it back to the victims as sort of compensation? (Unless there's no way to identify those victims).

There should be a way to identify the victims. Just like in other cases where victims recovered their funds even with profits, the US government should be able to identify people who lost funds, since many of them are from the US.

[UchihaSarada]

The Department of Justice has seized about $15 billion worth of bitcoin held by a man who oversaw a massive "pig butchering" fraud operation based in Cambodia, prosecutors said.
The seizure is the largest forfeiture action by the DOJ in history.

Honestly I don't know it is a biggest bitcoin seizure in DOJ history but I guess it is a biggest one in bitcoin value equivalent to $ at the time of seizure, not in bitcoin.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Justice Department’s National Security Division also filed today a civil forfeiture complaint against approximately 127,271 Bitcoin, currently worth approximately $15 billion

It's about 127,276 bitcoins, and DOJ wrote it inaccurately. Bitcoin is different than bitcoin and in this context, it must be written as bitcoin.

But I want to say, what would you do if you were the owner of this $15 billion Bitcoin wallet?

With $15B bitcoins, I would never store it in a single Bitcoin wallet and at a single location. With such money, I am rich enough to have different houses that allow me to store my bitcoins in diversifying way.

[Justbillywitt]

In fact, this senator has a different view on these bitcoins because he thinks they will strengthen the country's strategic bitcoin reserve. Anyway, we can see that DOJ already has this as the biggest confiscated in their history.

What a way to build up a strategic bitcoin reserve. I was hoping the US government were going to buy bitcoin to build up their strategic reserves, never knew they were planning on going hard in seizing bitcoins from fraudster to build up the reserve. So what happens to the victims if they comes out and present evidences of being scammed by the people they seized those bitcoins from. Will they be turned down? They should return those seized bitcoins to their owners.

[BALIK]

Yes, it might be good for the US to add it to their reserved. It hasn't been reflected in their holding yet though, https://intel.arkm.com/explorer/entity/usg. They still have ~198,000. And before we thought that they are going to buy, but it was now clear that their reserve might came from this case, seized and confiscated Bitcoin from this criminals. They have been the leader, second is China. And again, there also seems to be a "Bitcoin race" between this two nation. With the additional seized Bitcoin, US will remain on top of the food chain. But as far as China's Bitcoin holdings, I don't know if there is an accurate tracker right now. We all know that news from China is also obscured, specially with regards with crypto in general.

In this case, it would be much better for the US government to hold these bitcoins than for criminals to hold them. But the fact that they hold such a large amount of bitcoin is not necessarily a good thing. Because these bitcoins can also be auctioned off at any time if they want. Because it's not really a national strategic reserve yet and if the new president replaces Trump and doesn't support Bitcoin. The US government could sell it if they wanted.

Also, I don't think this is a government race to accumulate bitcoins, as they are just hunting and confiscating them instead of using the national budget to seriously buy.

I don't know if China is doing anything shady with bitcoin but they are openly buying gold in large amounts. I don't think they take bitcoin as seriously as we think, so don't put your hopes on them.

[As-Soon-As]

For the record this is the official document:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chairman-prince-group-indicted-operating-cambodian-forced-labor-scam-compounds-engaged

Now, it's the question whether this will be added to the US Bitcoin reserved as this is seized assets?

Or the US going to give it back to the victims as sort of compensation? (Unless there's no way to identify those victims).

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

Yes, the main question here is which government will control 127k plus Bitcoin. However, the confiscated Bitcoin is most likely to be controlled by the US government that has seized power. But the Cambodian government has not yet been able to catch the real owner of the Bitcoin, but has seized his Bitcoin wallet. Because of this, 15 billion dollars have been confiscated, but let's see which government will ultimately control 127k plus Bitcoin?

[Dunamisx]

Right now as we speak, we have a number of people into scam and yet uncovered, this shows that we all have to be more careful and at the same time informative about the necessary security tips on offers we receives form others online, because not everyone of them have good intentions, we cant be allowed to get scammed for nothing, while on our actual pursuit, we are seeking for online opportunity to invest and be profitable.

[rodskee]

I think it was a whale investor, because this investor seized Bitcoin from Wall owned by him. This investor had been hoarding old Bitcoin for a long time, Cambodian prosecutors said that this seized Bitcoin is the largest seizure in history, they have never seized so many Bitcoins before. This will be unique in the history of the world, because he was an old and whale investor.

But I want to say, what would you do if you were the owner of this $15 billion Bitcoin wallet?

i do not think only one man really owns all of those bitcoins that is most likely from their operations either that is their profit already or they will re use these money to build yet another operation

i am just surprised that the $15 billion bitcoins weren't more spread out or distributed that it would be harder to find considering their crime group is large, i would have expected a better way of hiding their trace lol but i guess all criminals have some weak spots

[Wind_FURY]

For the record this is the official document:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chairman-prince-group-indicted-operating-cambodian-forced-labor-scam-compounds-engaged

Now, it's the question whether this will be added to the US Bitcoin reserved as this is seized assets?

Or the US going to give it back to the victims as sort of compensation? (Unless there's no way to identify those victims).

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

I believe the government will keep it and add those seized coins in their vaults/strategic reserve. That's an opportunity for them to add more under their control.

Personally, I believe it's better for the market because those coins will never be sold in the market for a few years, probably a decade.

[Ucy]

It's a good thing for society and the Bitcoin Network that bitcoins earned through evil means are seized. Besides, the features of Bitcoin allows anyone to see, report and track such money.
 Unfortunately, the fraud as described typically happens on centralized platforms which are meant to be regulated. They are out of reach of decentralized authority, and the Bitcoin community won't exactly know the source of such bitcoins unless they are reported to them, then they take action such as indirectly tagging the addresses, reporting them to exchanges, security agencies and others.
It's claimed that the "prince group" operated successfully on centralized physical jurisdictions through bribery. It will be difficult for them to thrive on a Network based on Bitcoin principles such as Transparency, Immutability, Don't trust but verify, community checks & balances, etc.

And as far as Bitcoin is concerned, money earned through evil means is worth less or values less, which consequently means it adds no positive value to Bitcoin regardless of its size.

[OgNasty]

I still don’t understand what they did or how they managed to siphon billions of dollars from a slaughter business. I might have to read more about this when I have time. The sheer scale of a business that could create those kinds of numbers is hard to wrap my head around. Especially a business that seems so boring on the face of it.

[Z-tight]

I still don’t understand what they did or how they managed to siphon billions of dollars from a slaughter business.

This has nothing to do with a slaughter business, the scam perpetrated here is nicknamed 'pig butchering', and i guess that is the cause of the confusion. The scammers were able to steal so much money because they ran a scam empire, boosted through trafficked workers they forced into labor and used to deceive so many victims across many parts of the world in investment and romance scam.

Takedowns like this is good news, especially one as large and difficut to detect as this with a front business called the Prince Group. It would be better if victims can be identified and made whole, but i guess that won't happen and the government will fill their purse with this one.

[As-Soon-As]

I still don’t understand what they did or how they managed to siphon billions of dollars from a slaughter business. I might have to read more about this when I have time. The sheer scale of a business that could create those kinds of numbers is hard to wrap my head around. Especially a business that seems so boring on the face of it.

He was identified in court filings as the founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group, a multinational business conglomerate based in Cambodia, which prosecutors said grew "in secret .... into one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations." The Prince Group allegedly operates 10 scam compounds in Cambodia.
The Prince Group, which operates businesses in more than 30 countries, ran "forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a press release.
Information Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/14/bitcoin-doj-chen-zhi-pig-butchering-scam.html


You can also see directly how they are committing fraud, the result of this fraud is finally the government has seized Bitcoin. They were illegal businesses in more than 30 countries, and this Cambodia used to collect forced labor and exploit workers in various ways. And in the end, 15 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin was seized by the government, but there are many such illegal businesses in Cambodia that are exploiting the labor of forced daily wage workers.