But behind this façade, Chen Zhi, 37, runs one of the largest transnational criminal organizations in Asia, US authorities say, an empire fueled by forced labor and cryptocurrency scams that at one point were allegedly earning Chen and his associates $30 million every day.
The money went on buying Picasso artwork, private jets and properties in upscale neighborhoods of London, as well as supplying bribes to public officials, according to prosecutors in New York, who last week announcedthey had seized $15 billion in cryptocurrency from Chen following a years-long investigation.
That action has thrown a rare light on an alleged kingpin of Southeast Asia’s murky and criminal world of online scams, which US authorities say operate under the protection of powerful politicians, and conned victims in the US alone out of at least $10 billion dollars last year.
