The activities of ‘criminals’ in Cambodia are in the spotlight again after a shocking murder and the arrest of a man accused of laundering money for the Prince Group
It’s been a bad week for Chinese and Taiwanese citizens accused of crimes in Cambodia.
It started with the “execution” of a notorious gambling figure in Sihanoukville early last week and ended with the extradition of a key lieutenant of the alleged scam billionaire Chen Zhi, who was sent back to China on Wednesday (April 1).
Victim number one was Lin Ping-wen – “Taiwan’s most wanted gambling figure,” according to the Asia Gaming Brief – who was killed in a blizzard of lead on Monday March 23 – hit with a terrifying 29 bullets in the seaside town known for its casinos, scam compounds and other dodgy dealings.
The circumstances of his death are not yet clear, but may relate to a money laundering case linked to a man who operated a private club in Taipei, according to Focus Taiwan.
British crime analyst Martin Purbrick, who writes about Asian crime on Substack, said the killing of Lin – hit with five shots in the face and the rest across his body – “was an execution, not a casual murder, and illustrates the geographical reach of Chinese transnational organised crime groups.”
Lin, known as “the eel”, was granted Cambodian citizenship in 2019, according to CamboJANews, and was allegedly a former leading member of the Celestial Alliance triad society in Taiwan.
“He was wanted in Taiwan in connection with the ‘88 Lounge’ illegal online betting and money laundering case, which was one of the largest-scale financial crime cases uncovered in Taiwan and involved illegal activities stretching across Asia.”
Victim number two was Li Xiong, the boss of an infamous financial services company, who was extradited to China on Wednesday (April 1).
Li Xiong, arrested on March 28, is a former chairman of Huione, a group accused by the United States of laundering illicit funds for North Korea and cybercriminals in Southeast Asia. He was flown out of Cambodia on Wednesday (April 1).
China’s state broadcaster CCTV aired footage of Li Xiong, 41 – shaven-headed and in handcuffs, when a hood was removed – after he was escorted by police back to his homeland on a China Southern flight.
Whether he can avoid a similar fate is yet to be known. It probably depends on how cooperative he is with Chinese authorities, who have been quite willing to execute the heads of groups running scam compounds in Southeast Asia recently.
In May last year, the US Treasury accused Huione Group in Phnom Penh of being a “critical node for laundering proceeds of cyber heists” carried out by the North Korean regime and for transnational criminal groups in Southeast Asia involved in crypto investment scams.
The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) alleged that Huione, which owned companies offering e-commerce, payment and crypto services, received at least $4 billion worth of illegal proceeds – from scams, stolen funds and illicit cyber actors – between August 2021 and January 2025.
State news agency Xinhua said Li was central to a “major cross-border gambling and fraud syndicate”, citing China’s Ministry of Public Security.
“Investigations found that Li Xiong, the former chairman of Huione Group under the Prince Group, is suspected of multiple crimes,” the ministry said in a statement.
China extradited Prince Group’s founder Chen Zhi in January after his Cambodian conglomerate was sanctioned by the US and UK governments months earlier over its alleged involvement in cyberscams.
Beijing called Huione’s Li “a core member of Chen Zhi’s criminal gang” on Wednesday.
Li was arrested and deported at the request of Chinese authorities following a months-long joint investigation, AFP reported, citing a statement by Cambodia’s interior ministry.
Analysts say transnational crime groups in Cambodia initially targeted Chinese speakers, before widening their reach and stealing tens of billions of dollars annually from victims in the US and around the world.
Criminal networks from China have used casinos, hotels and fortified compounds in Cambodia and other parts of Southeast Asia as bases to carry out sophisticated online scams, defrauding people through crypto schemes and fake romantic relationships, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
FinCEN described Huione Group as a “primary money-laundering concern” in May 2025, later prohibiting US financial institutions from maintaining accounts for it or processing transactions involving the firm.
Criminal actors affiliated with the North Korean government have “extensively used the Huione Group to launder” stolen cryptocurrency for the benefit of Pyongyang’s ballistic missile programmes, in violation of US and international sanctions, FinCEN said.
Huione’s crypto services and online marketplace made the group a “one-stop shop” for criminals to launder cryptocurrency gained through illegal activities and convert it to money, it said.
Huione has been linked to Cambodia’s ruling family. AFP said calls to numbers listed for Huione firms on Cambodia’s official business registry went unanswered on Wednesday.
Critics say the country opened the door to problems by allowing foreigners to buy citizenship with minimal background checks, and that this was one reason why Cambodia has emerged as a key hub for cyberscams in recent years, along with a notorious enclave in Myawaddy on the Thai-Myanmar border.
Chen and Li had both been granted Cambodian citizenship, which was later revoked. But Chen also served as an adviser to both Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, former leader Hun Sen.
Hun Manet told AFP in February that the government “did not know that he was the kingpin” and pushed back against allegations of government complicity.
Cambodian authorities have vowed to close all online scam centres by the end of April, with Hun Manet saying they were giving the nation a bad name.
The law enforcement push, which analysts have criticised as window-dressing, has seen thousands of people flee suspected scam sites in recent months.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that “combating online gambling and telecoms fraud is the shared responsibility of the global community”.
Washington alleged last year that Prince Group, one of Cambodia’s biggest conglomerates, has served as a front for “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations”.
Prince Group denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, officials in Britain announced a new round of sanctions last week targeting more individuals and entities linked to Prince Group.
NOTE: The headline on this report was changed on April 2, 2026.
Jim Pollard is an Australian journalist based in Thailand since 1999. He worked for News Ltd papers in Sydney, Perth, London and Melbourne before travelling through SE Asia in the late 90s. He was a senior editor at The Nation for 17+ years.
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