The U.S. Treasury added 45 people and companies linked to Prince Group to its sanctions list. The newly listed parties carry no crypto addresses, but U.S. firms must still block their covered assets.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned 45 people and companies linked to Prince Group on Nov. 5, targeting a corporate network it says helped the alleged crypto-scam operator conceal assets and evade earlier sanctions.
Who the Treasury targeted
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, added four individuals and 41 companies. The individuals are Qiu Yong, Zhao Mengyao, He Yujing and Visal Pang.
Treasury described Qiu as controlling British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong companies on Prince Group's behalf, and Zhao as his personal assistant. It said He, the wife of previously sanctioned executive Chen Bo, took ownership of his Tokyo mansion after the October 2025 sanctions. Pang controls 11 Cambodian companies, several co-directed with Chen Bo, Treasury said.
The newly listed businesses include Hong Kong lender Premium Financial Limited and Cambodia's Prince International Airlines. Treasury also accuses Prince Group-affiliated actors of generating billions of dollars through digital-asset investment scams, romance scams and other online fraud, with many operations relying on trafficked and coerced workers in Southeast Asian compounds.
Crypto obligations go beyond wallet addresses
None of the 45 new entries lists a digital-currency address, so the update identifies no blockchain-specific wallet targets. The sanctions nevertheless cover the designated parties' crypto assets as well as their other property.
Property of the designated parties that is in the United States or in U.S. persons' possession or control must be blocked and reported to OFAC. Entities owned 50% or more by blocked persons, directly or indirectly and in aggregate, are also blocked.
For crypto exchanges under U.S. jurisdiction, compliance therefore extends past matching wallet addresses. OFAC's address-listing guidance warns that listed crypto addresses are "not likely to be exhaustive."
A wider crackdown
Separately, OFAC designated Chui Kok Wa, a Malaysian national based in Madagascar, who Treasury said led a network of scammers that defrauded Americans of more than $400,000 using crypto and other technologies. The U.S. is also seeking the forfeiture of about $14 billion in Bitcoin tied to Prince Group, which has denied the allegations.
Sources: The Defiant, Decrypt
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