Chinese prosecutors have added an intentional assault charge against "Chen Zhi," the founder of Prince Group and a key suspect in a transnational online fraud network case, opening the door to a maximum penalty of death. Meanwhile, senior executives within the group have been arrested and continuously repatriated to China, while the United States and Japan press ahead with prosecutions and sanctions against those involved.
On 27 July 2026, Chinese business magazine Caixin reported that Chen Zhi, 38, the suspect accused of masterminding a large-scale scammer network in Cambodia, may face a maximum penalty of death after Chinese prosecutors issued an order to amend the charge sheet, adding the charge of intentional assault — a serious offence under Chinese criminal law.
The report stated that prosecutors dropped certain original charges against Chen Zhi from the case file, including concealing and disguising proceeds of crime, but added charges of copyright infringement and intentional assault in their place. Under Chinese criminal law, if the assault results in serious injury or death by cruel means, the offender may be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 10 years, or may receive the maximum penalty of death.
Chen Zhi is the founder of Prince Group, a large conglomerate in Cambodia that Chinese and U.S. authorities say is linked to a large-scale online fraud network and transnational crime. He was extradited from Cambodia back to China approximately six months ago and was formally arrested under an arrest warrant on 6 July.
Beyond the case in China, Chen is also a suspect sought by U.S. prosecutors on charges of running one of the largest transnational criminal organisations in Asia, while the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Prince Group as a "transnational criminal organisation" in October 2025.
The report also noted that two other senior executives in the group — Liu Ren, founder of Jinbei Group, and Li Song, former chairman of Huione Group, a company affiliated with Prince Group — were repatriated to China and face multiple charges ranging from unlawful detention to intentional assault.
Liu Ren was extradited from Cambodia in June and is accused of operating several online gambling platforms under the Jinbei brand and luring Chinese nationals into participating in gambling. Li Song was repatriated to China as early as April.
Japan's Kyodo News reported that Hu Si, believed to be the second-highest authority within Prince Group, was arrested in Japan in June on charges of document forgery. The suspect is said to use multiple aliases — Chen Xiao'er and Hu Xiaowei — and is a 44-year-old ethnic Chinese holder of Cypriot nationality.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against Hu Si in June, describing him as someone known as Chen Zhi's "big brother" and saying he played a key role in expanding Prince Group's business to more than 30 countries, spanning transnational real estate and financial services. He currently remains in custody in Japan.
Earlier in May, a Hong Kong court issued an order to freeze real estate and assets worth more than HK$9 billion held by companies belonging to Hu Si and associated individuals.
One week later, Cambodian authorities raided two buildings at the Prince Central Plaza development in Phnom Penh linked to Chen Zhi and were able to detain 104 suspects, of whom 82 were Chinese nationals — reflecting the deepening multi-country cooperation to crack down on online criminal networks and transnational fraud operations based in Southeast Asia.
