DOJ says 127,271 BTC is in U.S. custody; Chen Zhi charged

US Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture action for 127,271 BTC—about $15B at recent prices—and says the assets are in ￰0￱ pending court ￰1￱ also unsealed an indictment of Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi in the Eastern District of New York, placing the case in one of the department’s major financial-crime ￰2￱ filings describe a multi-year effort tied to large-scale online investment ￰3￱ The government alleges Chen ran Cambodian forced-labor scam compounds behind “pig-butchering” schemes that targeted victims ￰4￱ indictment outlines organized recruitment, coercion, and crypto-funded fraud that moved proceeds across wallets and ￰5￱ remains at large; the allegations have not yet been proven in ￰6￱ Justice labels this the largest forfeiture action in department history and says the 127,271 BTC is currently in ￰7￱ announcement came alongside partner measures the same day, including sanctions actions by Treasury and the ￰8￱ at connected networks.

Together, the filings and sanctions signal a coordinated push against the financial rails that support the ￰9￱ The amount dwarfs the DOJ’s June 2025 crypto-confidence-scam actions (about $225M), underscoring the scale and profitability of these ￰10￱ successful, the case could harden precedent for tracing and recovering funds at size, raise pressure on exchanges and OTC brokers, and accelerate compliance changes across on- and ￰11￱ also highlights Southeast Asia as a continuing enforcement focus in crypto-enabled fraud.