Chen, 37, was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice last month on charges of money laundering, fraud and running forced-labor “scam compounds” in Cambodia.
His conglomerate, Prince Group, allegedly cheated victims across the globe of billions of dollars through online investment and cryptocurrency schemes that relied on trafficked workers, often referred to as “pig butchering” scams, as reported by The Guardian.
While now infamously known as a scam boss, Chen once found himself on the other end of the stick back in 2021.
That year, his staff discovered that millions had been drained from his bank accounts and the sole director of Chen’s family office in Singapore, David Wong, was removed from his position.
Court filings cited by Bloomberg show that the family office sued Wong in 2021 and 2022, accusing him of “misappropriating” S$5.84 million (US$4.5 million) of Chen’s money from an OCBC account.
The two had previously met in 2017, when Chen was already rich and looking to expand his investments in the city-state and become a permanent resident, Wong’s affidavit shows.
Wong, a Singapore citizen, helped Chen handle the paperwork with banks and local authorities to set up a family office called DW Capital Holdings and secure a tax exemption by 2018.
As Chen grew his empire over the following years, Wong built a team and set up multiple entities to manage his boss’s affairs. Court filings list more than six banking and financial relationships, including the OCBC bank account that was later drained.
In May 2021, Chen decided to adjust his family office’s operations and, as part of the plan, move one of his key investment vehicles, Skyline Investment Management, to the family office at Duo Tower.
As a consolidation was approaching, Chen’s audit team required access to the key documents and management accounts for operations overseen by Wong. They also needed materials he had submitted to Singapore authorities and banks to verify Chen’s wealth, such as a “source of wealth” deck prepared by Wong.
The head of that audit team, Karen Chen Xiuling, noted in an affidavit cited by Bloomberg that some entities Wong managed appeared to pay each other, including $535,209 in management fees. Wong was on medical leave at the time and was increasingly difficult to reach.
Chen’s auditors also found out that the family office address was used for a number of other businesses, some of which Wong said were his personal projects.
A team meeting that included Wong was called but on the day of the meeting, Chen’s staff found themselves locked out of the Duo Tower office, with building management saying only CMFO staff could activate the passes. CMFO was Wong’s main project, which reportedly served ultra-wealthy Asian families and backed ventures in tech and real estate.
The director was removed from his position the next day, but the office remained inaccessible. Auditors then attempted to obtain detailed OCBC transaction records but were refused.
From statements they could view, they discovered that millions were moved in and out of the account over years without Chen’s knowledge, some to entities named similarly to Wong’s personal companies.
Chen’s UOB-Kay Hian account manager also reported that Wong had tried to transfer funds into his own account weeks earlier but was stopped.
Once the auditors eventually regained access to the office, they found it almost empty.
In the years that followed, Chen portrayed himself as a victim in Singapore while his team tried to recover the money by pursuing Wong through the courts to recover the missing funds.
Singapore’s High Court issued a default judgment in late 2022 holding Wong and his companies responsible for more than S$12 million. Wong, now 55, denied mismanaging the family office or making any unauthorized transactions and has since filed for bankruptcy.
What we know about Chen Zhi
Chen currently remains at large. Both he and his Prince Group have consistently denied any criminal misconduct. He could face a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison if convicted.
The U.S. Treasury Department said it had sanctioned 146 individuals tied to the conglomerate, calling it the largest such action ever in Southeast Asia. The U.K. has issued similar sanctions, Channel News Asia reported.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Chen and his unnamed co-conspirators spent some of the illicit proceeds on lavish travel and entertainment and luxury purchases such as watches, yachts, private jets, vacation homes, high-end collectibles and rare artwork.
Singapore police last week seized over S$150 million in assets tied to Prince Group, including six properties, bank accounts, securities accounts and cash connected to Chen and the network in relation to money laundering and forgery offenses, as reported by Reuters.
Investigations into Chen and his associates began last year following intelligence from the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office, the police said.
None of the suspects are currently in the city-state, authorities said, adding that financial institutions had filed suspicious transaction reports early on and a number of accounts have since been closed.
Earlier this week, Hong Kong said it had frozen HK$2.75 billion (US$354 million) in assets linked to Prince Group while Taiwan said it had detained 25 people and seized T$4.5 billion (US$147.09 million) in assets connected to the network.
