US DOJ Seizes $15B from Habanos S.A. Owner Chen Zhi in Massive ‘Pig Butchering’ Scam With ‘Forced Labor’

[LizardGizmo]

https://nypost.com/2025/10/14/business/doj-seizes-15b-in-bitcoin-from-prince-holding-group-founder-chen-zhi/
https://www.cigars-connect.com/en/breaking-news-habanos-s-a-shareholder-chen-zhi-is-on-the-run/

So much to unpack here, but the 38 y/o Chen Zhi is the elusive Chinese-Cambodian founder of Prince Holding Group - is a significant shareholder in Habanos S.A. The United States Department of Justice Seized $15B in Bitcoin as Zhi is now on the run from authorities. He is accused of using forced labor in Cambodia - and obviously HSA partner Tabacuba has been accused of doing the same in Cuba by Madrid NGO Prisoners Defenders - among several other offenses. HSA deemed the Cuban prison labor to be "voluntary" and "symbolic".

A very bad couple of weeks for Habanos S.A...

[yuppie]

This seize shocked the crypto world because the US is going to add the seized Bitcoin to their treasury. I was reading all about this the last week, I had no idea he owned a bunch of Habanos SA LOL.

[ElLoboLoco]

I would have a hard time buying Cuban cigars with all of these unsavory characters. 

[JDoughty]

On 10/18/2025 at 12:33 AM, yuppie said:

This seize shocked the crypto world because the US is going to add the seized Bitcoin to their treasury. I was reading all about this the last week, I had no idea he owned a bunch of Habanos SA LOL.

Of course they will. 🙄 I don't think there are any savory characters in anyone's government anywhere. Some are just worse than others. Or at least they're the ones we actually find out about. I'm not convinced there are any innocents at all who are major actors on the world stage. Just the ones you find out about and the ones who do a better job covering up. 

[SigmundChurchill]

On 10/18/2025 at 1:55 AM, JDoughty said:

Of course they will. 🙄 I don't think there are any savory characters in anyone's government anywhere. Some are just worse than others. Or at least they're the ones we actually find out about. I'm not convinced there are any innocents at all who are major actors on the world stage. Just the ones you find out about and the ones who do a better job covering up. 

Far be it from me to defend any government, but in all fairness, it's not like they were trying to hide it. They have been saying they were going to build a national Bitcoin reserve all along. AND they have been saying that they will not be buying Bitcoin for the reserve. They will only be using Bitcoin that has been seized from criminals.

They were very clear about it so I am not sure who in the crypto world was actually shocked about it when they actually did it. More shocking, and nefarious, would be if they started buying bitcoin up on the open market, because that would have an effect on the price. 

[joeypots]

FWIW, there is an informative podcast about pig butchering on The Economist that goes in depth into the world of these scams, who is behind them, the victims, and how the stolen funds are washed and then invested. 

https://www.economist.com/audio/podcasts/scam-inc

[tbelle7]

Some thoughts on this guy from an interview two years ago. Starts at 25:20

[LizardGizmo]

Here’s an AP report on the arrest - https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-crypto-bitcoin-cambodia-pig-butchering-dfd6833904cf539d680e381ad8d0eb6c

“At one point, prosecutors said, Chen bragged that the so-called pig butchering scam was pulling in $30 million a day.”

[bmac]

Who are the “pigs”?

[LizardGizmo]

On 10/18/2025 at 8:03 PM, bmac said:

Who are the “pigs”?

All kinds of people from all over the world who are led to believe over long periods of time they are talking to friends, business people or even potential lovers - finding the piglet and fattening them up. After trust is gained, whatever finances the scammer has gotten access to are stolen - the slaughtering. It often starts with a random confusing text message that engages the person in a conversation. It got really big during Covid when people were desperate for human connection. 

Some have lost tens of thousands, others hundreds of thousands and in worst cases millions. One bank CEO in Kansas sent $50 million of the banks assets to a scammer he believed was helping him and the bank failed immediately.

[Ford2112]

It's basically being catfished. You know when you finally meet the girl and she looks nothing like her photos and weighs 80 more lbs.  Or worse...😵‍💫

[BlueWS]

On 10/19/2025 at 9:21 AM, Ford2112 said:

It's basically being catfished. You know when you finally meet the girl and she looks nothing like her photos and weighs 80 more lbs.  Or worse...😵‍💫

That's how I met my wife!

...I'm kidding of course.

[Ford2112]

12 hours ago, BlueWS said:

That's how I met my wife!

...I'm kidding of course.

Mmmmhmmmmm🤔

[Dluke08]

12 hours ago, BlueWS said:

That's how I met my wife!
 
...I'm kidding of course.

This made me laugh out loud


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ha_banos]

Horrific and fascinating isn't it? 

https://amp.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3329212/who-cambodias-chen-zhi-untouchable-tycoon-linked-scam-hubs

[joeypots]

On 10/19/2025 at 4:03 AM, LizardGizmo said:

Here’s an AP report on the arrest - https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-crypto-bitcoin-cambodia-pig-butchering-dfd6833904cf539d680e381ad8d0eb6c

“At one point, prosecutors said, Chen bragged that the so-called pig butchering scam was pulling in $30 million a day.”

The way the money gets washed is fascinating. Pig butchering is a large enough industry to own many legitimate business. For example, and this is an oversimplification, sports betting hubs. Once the money is bet and lost it becomes income to the gambling company and, poof, it's legit. Especially if the authorities are lenient. When the owner of the gambling website buys his college age kid an apartment in NYC the assets and now legit in the USA. 

[BrightonCorgi]

On 10/19/2025 at 8:07 AM, LizardGizmo said:

All kinds of people from all over the world who are led to believe over long periods of time they are talking to friends, business people or even potential lovers - finding the piglet and fattening them up. After trust is gained, whatever finances the scammer has gotten access to are stolen - the slaughtering. It often starts with a random confusing text message that engages the person in a conversation. It got really big during Covid when people were desperate for human connection. 

Some have lost tens of thousands, others hundreds of thousands and in worst cases millions. One bank CEO in Kansas sent $50 million of the banks assets to a scammer he believed was helping him and the bank failed immediately.

I know someone who is a victim of this scam. He's a kind and very overweight, twice divorced guy who is now "engaged" to a beautiful Brazilian woman. He was retired but now works two jobs to save enough money to "buy a home in Brazil". He's renting out his house & living in a trailer to save money. They do not live together either.

His family & friends say he's being scammed. When I saw her, I was like "wow" and "he must be well endowed" or something. Looks, personality, and income aren't it. I think they may've had sex once, but she says they need to wait to be married since she's Pentecostal and "religious". Now he's going to church several times a week.

I hate to see how this will end, but he's been warned.

[Tstew75]

Jesus. 

[joeypots]

It can start on dating apps. A guy gets picked by an attractive woman's picture and a email relationship begins. A horrid part of this is the women can be in a slave camp in East Asia somewhere and have been taught how to lead pigs on. The relationship can go on for a long time before finance is brought into the picture. A few crypto investments that show paper profits then the big one where the victim, who has been brought to the point where he, or she, doesn't want to admit to his or herself that the whole relationship is a fraud, is taken for a life changing amount of money. There's a whole psychological profile that the criminals understand and when someone on the other end of the dating app, for example, shows promise, a sophisticated network goes to work on the other side of the world. I was shocked when I heard about this. The podcast I referenced has 3 free episodes and when I found out I could get the last 5 for 5$ a month subscription, I bit. I had a hard time canceling the subscription, I sort of got nicked rather than butchered, but the idea is the same.

[joeypots]

https://www.thecut.com/article/amazon-scam-call-ftc-arrest-warrants.html

[gormag38]

1 hour ago, joeypots said:

https://www.thecut.com/article/amazon-scam-call-ftc-arrest-warrants.html

Man that's a wild ass story. I certainly can understand how/why some folks fall victim.

[El Presidente]

1 hour ago, joeypots said:

https://www.thecut.com/article/amazon-scam-call-ftc-arrest-warrants.html

Great read Joe 👍

[joeypots]

Hard to believe the scale of this kind of crime.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/world/asia/scam-centers-myanmar-cambodia.html?searchResultPosition=1