The Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint seizing 127,271 Bitcoin, currently worth approximately US$15 billion, which the U.S. said are proceeds of Chen Zhi's fraud and money laundering schemes. Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images/Postmedia files

The chairman of Cambodian conglomerate Prince Group was charged Tuesday by the United States with running a “ sprawling cyber fraud empire ” that led to the seizure of Bitcoin worth about US$15 billion in what prosecutors called the largest ever forfeiture action.

Chen Zhi, 38, who heads Phnom Penh-based Prince Group, was charged by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, with engaging in a wire-fraud conspiracy and operating a money-laundering scheme . Chen’s operation allegedly used forced-labour in Cambodia

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