Mauritius companies in the paper trail around Prince Group’s $15bn bitcoin case

A Cambodia-based conglomerate that presented itself as a mainstream property, banking and consumer-services group is now treated by Washington as a transnational criminal organisation. The documented Mauritius angle is narrower than some online commentary implies U.S. officials say a senior associate oversaw Prince companies in Mauritius, and investigative reporting plus a Mauritian regulator notice tie named associates to two local vehicles. That is not the same as a finding that Mauritius itself ran the scam compounds.

Prince Holding Group (also called Prince Group) was founded in 2015 by Chen Zhi, also known as Vincent. Publicly, it built real estate, Prince Bank, tourism and related businesses across Cambodia. On 14 October 2025, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), working with the United Kingdom, designated the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organisation and sanctioned a large accompanying network of people and companies.

The same day, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an Eastern District of New York indictment charging Chen with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Prosecutors allege he directed forced-labour “scam compounds” in Cambodia that ran industrial-scale cryptocurrency investment fraud — commonly called pig-butchering — against victims worldwide, including Americans. They also filed a civil forfeiture complaint over about 127,271 bitcoin, then valued at roughly $15 billion, which they said Chen controlled through unhosted wallets. DOJ called it the largest forfeiture action in its history.

Those are allegations in a U.S. criminal case and a civil forfeiture action. They have not been tested to verdict in a U.S. court. Chen was later stripped of Cambodian citizenship and extradited to China in January 2026. Prince Group has publicly rejected the U.S. case, calling it an “asset grab”.

OFAC followed up on 23 June 2026 with a further tranche: nine people and 26 entities, including Hu Xiaowei, described as Chen’s “second-in-command”. Treasury said Southeast Asia-based scams cost Americans at least $10 billion in 2024.

What U.S. authorities say the group did

The official case, in compressed form:

• At least ten compounds in Cambodia, including sites tied to Jin Bei Group / Jin Bei Casino, where trafficked workers were held and forced to run romance-investment and crypto-investment scams.

• Mixing of illicit proceeds with a public-facing empire: real estate, Prince Bank, casinos/online gambling, and crypto mining (including Laos-linked Warp Data).

• Layering through more than 100 shell and holding companies worldwide. Treasury’s October 2025 package designated 117 affiliated businesses, “the vast majority” of which were described as offshore shells with no apparent real commercial activity.

The U.K. imposed parallel sanctions on Prince Holding Group, Chen and key associates.

FinCEN separately cut Huione Group off from the U.S. financial system under a Patriot Act section 311 rule, alleging it laundered at least $4 billion in illicit proceeds between August 2021 and January 2025, including funds tied to Southeast Asian investment scams. That is a related but distinct action.

Where Mauritius sits in the network

Mauritius is not named in the DOJ indictment as a scam-compound jurisdiction. It appears as an offshore corporate and fund node.

Treasury’s October 2025 release is explicit on one point: Chen Xiuling (Karen Chen) “oversees Prince Holding Group companies based in Mauritius, Taiwan, and Singapore.” She was designated. A Singapore arrest warrant has been reported against her; that is a separate enforcement track.

Investigative reporting by OCCRP and The Straits Times (August 2026) then mapped two Mauritian vehicles to people they identified as close to the network:

Meritwise Group Public Ltd
OCCRP published the official Mauritius company record, which described the firm as active. It said Meritwise was one of at least two Mauritian entities in which Chen Sokly (also known as Chen Xing / Martin Chen) was involved, and that the other entity involved a person later U.S.-sanctioned. The same report says that in 2018, Chen Sokly, Dai An, and Xiong Huajun were involved with Meritwise, together with Singaporeans Karen Chen Xiuling and Cliff Teo Kang Yeow.

Oceanic Opportunity Fund PCC
A Mauritius-protected-cell company. OCCRP says Chen Sokly was a shareholder and that the fund provided the later-sanctioned Prince Bank with more than $50 million in loans. It also held shares in Skyline Investment Management Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based vehicle under Chen Zhi’s control at the time OFAC sanctioned it. The Straits Times reports that, in 2023, Sokly, Dai An, and Xiong Huajun were listed as the ultimate beneficial owners of the fund.

That Mauritius footprint is independently visible in a Financial Services Commission (FSC) Mauritius public notice dated 29 January 2024. The FSC said it had issued a 25 September 2023 notice to Dai An, Sookly Chen and Xiong Huajun “in their capacity as beneficial owners of Oceanic Opportunity Fund PCC,” and published a further notice because email delivery had failed. That is a regulatory communication about beneficial owners, not a U.S. sanctions listing of the fund itself.
https://www.fscmauritius.org/media/170433/2-notice-oceanic-opporunity-fund-pcc-rev-ag.pdf

Chen Sokly is the person OCCRP and the Straits Times identify as “Co-Conspirator-2” in the U.S. indictment: alleged Prince Group “enforcer” and head of “risk control.” He has not been charged in that indictment and, as of those reports, has not been added to the OFAC SDN list. That gap matters. Corporate overlap is not a conviction.

Dai An was sanctioned in the June 2026 OFAC round, described in reporting as a high-level figure. He told reporters he was only an administrative director and had “zero knowledge” of the activities alleged. That denial is on the record and untested in the articles cited.

What should not be inflated?

A few constraints that often get lost when this story is recycled:

1. Mauritius is one jurisdiction among many. Treasury and later explainers list Cambodia, Singapore, Taiwan, BVI, Laos, Palau and others. The $15 billion figure is a U.S. bitcoin forfeiture, not money seized in Port Louis.

2. I have not seen Meritwise or Oceanic Opportunity Fund PCC themselves on the OFAC SDN list. The U.S. action hits people and Prince-linked entities; the Mauritius companies appear in corporate records, an FSC notice, and investigative reporting.

3. Chen Zhi has been charged in the United States and sent to China. He has not been convicted in the U.S. case described above. Prince Group denies the allegations.

4. “Pig-butchering compounds in Mauritius” is not what the cited official documents say. The compounds described by DOJ/OFAC are in Cambodia.

The honest reading is this: U.S. and U.K. authorities treat Prince Group as a TCO built on forced-labour cyber-fraud and industrial money laundering; they say the group used a global shell architecture; Mauritius appears in that architecture through named companies, a designated lieutenant (Karen Chen), beneficial-owner records, and loans into Prince Bank. That is a compliance and political problem for an IFC that sells substance and beneficial-ownership transparency. It is not, on the public record reviewed here, proof that the Mauritian state or the FSC designed the scam.

Primary and reporting sources (full URLs)

U.S. Treasury, 14 Oct 2025 — designation of Prince Group TCO:
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0278

OFAC recent actions, 14 Oct 2025:
https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20251014

U.S. Treasury, 23 June 2026 — further Prince-linked sanctions:
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0538

U.S. Department of Justice, 14 Oct 2025 — indictment and ~$15bn bitcoin forfeiture:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chairman-prince-group-indicted-operating-cambodian-forced-labor-scam-compounds-engaged

OCCRP, 8 Aug 2026 — Chen Sokly, Meritwise, Oceanic Opportunity Fund PCC:
https://www.occrp.org/en/scoop/alleged-enforcer-in-prince-group-scam-network-identified

The Straits Times, 8 Aug 2026 — same investigation, Singapore and Mauritius companies:
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/unmasked-scam-kingpin-chen-zhis-top-associates-held-significant-cache-of-assets-in-singapore

FSC Mauritius notice re Oceanic Opportunity Fund PCC beneficial owners (29 Jan 2024):
https://www.fscmauritius.org/media/170433/2-notice-oceanic-opporunity-fund-pcc-rev-ag.pdf

Reuters explainer on Chen Zhi:
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/who-is-chen-zhi-young-tycoon-accused-running-global-cyber-scams-2026-01-08/

The Diplomat on the June 2026 sanctions:
https://thediplomat.com/2026/06/us-government-imposes-fresh-sanctions-against-alleged-cambodian-scam-network/

Chainalysis briefing on the October 2025 crypto action:
https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/southeast-asia-crypto-scam-network-mining-pig-butchering-october-2025/