The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Thursday sanctioned four individuals and 41 companies that it said support the business network of the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC, also designated a Malaysian individual who it said defrauded U.S. victims by managing a network of Africa-based scammers.
The United States previously sanctioned the Prince Group for its role in cyber-enabled fraud, money laundering and human trafficking, according to the department. Treasury said the new designations target the corporate and financial structures that help the group’s leaders hide assets, evade earlier sanctions and keep access to the international financial system.
“Cyber scam syndicates continue to steal billions of dollars from American victims,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. He said Treasury remains committed to dismantling these organizations from their leadership to their corporate structures and financial facilitators.
Treasury said people and companies linked to the Prince Group have produced billions of dollars in illicit proceeds through digital asset investment scams, romance scams and other online fraud. It said many of the operations are tied to scam compounds in Southeast Asia that use trafficked and coerced workers. The department said the proceeds are laundered through shell companies, offshore holding companies, financial facilitators and digital asset transactions.
The action builds on OFAC designations made on Oct. 14, 2025, and June 23, 2026. Treasury said the newly designated people and companies helped sustain the group after those actions by managing offshore corporate structures, concealing who owns them and providing administrative and financial services to senior executives.
Among those named is Qiu Yong, whom Treasury described as a key Prince Group member who controls multiple companies in the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong. The department said he holds passports from Cambodia, St. Lucia and Türkiye and has worked for a company controlled by Chen Zhi, the group’s leader. Treasury designated Chen on Oct. 14, 2025. It also designated 14 companies it said Qiu owns or controls, including money lending and wine-related businesses, and his personal assistant, Zhao Mengyao.
Treasury also named He Yujing, the wife of Prince Group executive Chen Bo, and Visal Pang, a Cambodian associate of the group. The department said Chen Bo has transferred ownership of his Tokyo mansion to He since the October 2025 action. It said Visal Pang controls 11 Cambodian companies, several of which he co-directs with Chen Bo, and that the United Kingdom designated him on March 26, 2026. Treasury also designated 11 Cambodian companies it said Chen Bo controls, one company owned by He, and the 11 companies Pang controls.
The remaining Prince Group-related designations are three companies linked to Dai An, a Prince Group leader designated on June 23, 2026, and a Singapore company owned by Thet Li, an executive designated on Oct. 14, 2025.
Separately, OFAC designated Chui Kok Wa under a cyber-related sanctions order. Treasury said Chui led a network of scammers in Madagascar that defrauded Americans of digital assets worth more than $400,000.
Treasury said the action furthers an executive order by President Trump, dated March 6, 2026, on combating cybercrime, fraud and predatory schemes against American citizens. It said the action was coordinated with the FBI’s New York and Honolulu field offices, the Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force and the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Alaska. The department also thanked the British Virgin Islands Financial Investigation Agency and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for their help.
As a result of the designations, all property of those named that is in the United States or in the control of U.S. persons is blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Companies owned 50% or more by blocked persons are also blocked. Unless OFAC grants a license, U.S. persons are generally barred from transactions involving their property. Treasury said violations can bring civil or criminal penalties, and financial institutions that deal with blocked persons may risk sanctions themselves.
Treasury said the goal of sanctions is to bring about a positive change in behavior, not to punish. It pointed to an OFAC process for petitioning to be removed from its sanctions list.