Treasury hits Prince Group scam network with 35 new sanctions

What happened

On 23 June 2026, the US Department of the Treasury moved against the network behind a large Southeast Asian scam-center operation. Acting through OFAC (the US Office of Foreign Assets Control), Treasury sanctioned nine individuals and 26 entities linked to the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO). That is 35 designations in a single action. The targets span TCO leadership, investors in scam compounds, and front companies.

One named target is Hu Xiaowei, described by Treasury as the Prince Group TCO’s “second-in-command” and a “big brother” to the group’s leader, Chen Zhi. Treasury identified Huione Group as a critical node for laundering the proceeds of cyber heists and virtual currency investment scams. The Prince Group used Huione to transfer and consolidate scam-derived assets.

In parallel, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed amending its October 2025 Huione Group Final Rule. The amendment would add H-Pay Service PLC and any successor entity. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said, “Scam centers in Southeast Asia steal billions of dollars from American victims each year.”

For background, the US Department of Justice charged Chen Zhi, Prince Group’s founder and chairman, with money laundering conspiracy in October 2025 over forced-labor scam compounds in Cambodia.

Why it matters

This reads as an attack on a system, not a single node. Treasury hit the people, the investors, the front companies, and the laundering rail in one coordinated move. The pairing of OFAC designations with a FinCEN rule expansion signals an intent to choke both the sanctioned parties and the payment infrastructure they relied on.

The mechanism is the part practitioners should sit with. Investment-scam and pig-butchering proceeds do not stay in fiat. They move through a virtual-currency laundering layer, get consolidated, and then need a way back into the regulated system. Huione sat at that consolidation point. Naming H-Pay Service PLC and any successor entity is an acknowledgment that these laundering services rebrand and resurface, so a rule pinned to one name alone would age out fast.

The open question is reach. A designation captures named parties and entities they own or control, but the compound economy is built on layered front companies. Screening the 35 names is the floor, not the ceiling.

Practitioner angle

• Screen the 35 new designations today. Run the nine individuals and 26 entities against your customer base, payment counterparties, and transaction history. Treat any match as a specially designated national (SDN) hit and escalate per your sanctions procedure.
• Review direct and indirect exposure to Huione Group and to H-Pay Service PLC, including any successor entity. Check correspondent relationships, nested accounts, and virtual-asset service provider links.
• Treat virtual-currency flows connected to Southeast Asian scam compounds as high risk. Tighten chain-analytics monitoring for consolidation patterns where many small inbound transfers aggregate before moving on.
• For banks, watch the fiat off-ramp. The point where laundered scam proceeds cash out into the regulated system is your highest-value control. Tune monitoring for accounts receiving funds from flagged exchanges or payment processors tied to this network.

Screen the 35 designations against your full book today and escalate every match.