China’s Prince Group founder Chen Zhi faces a new charge that can carry the death penalty

Chen Zhi, the 38-year-old founder of Prince Group, has picked up another criminal charge in China: intentional injury, which can be punished by at least 10 years in prison or death. For high-risk payment operators, the useful part is not the courtroom drama — it is the fact pattern: alleged scam-compound control, illegal online gambling, cross-border enforcement, and a growing list of countries treating the same network as a transnational crime case.

1. According to Caixin, prosecutors in China added the intentional injury charge to Chen Zhi’s case. Chinese law allows that offense to be punished with a prison sentence of no less than 10 years or with the death penalty.
2. In January, Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior said Chen Zhi had been detained and extradited to China in a joint operation with Chinese law enforcement carried out “as part of cooperation on combating transnational crime.” Chen Zhi is accused of organizing numerous scam-compound centers in Cambodia and of running a large illegal online gambling network.
3. Chinese investigators have also charged him with copyright infringement, while dropping a charge related to concealing criminal prosecution.
4. Outside China, the pressure is already operational, not theoretical. Last year, the US Department of Justice charged Chen Zhi with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. US authorities also filed a civil forfeiture action for 127,271 bitcoin seized in the case. At the time of seizure, those coins were valued at about $15 billion; now they are worth about $8 billion. The dispute over how those assets will be distributed after forfeiture is still unresolved.
5. The US has also widened the net around Prince Group. In a statement dated 23 June 2026, the State Department said it imposed sanctions on nine individuals and 26 entities linked to Prince Group and its leadership, describing the group as a transnational criminal organization. The statement said Prince Group participants own scam-compound centers and profit from them, with victims in the US and around the world.

The gambling side of the story has moved in parallel. The charges tied to illegal online gambling also involve Jinbei Group. Its founder, Liu Zhen, was extradited from Cambodia to China last month and is accused of operating multiple online gambling platforms aimed at Chinese citizens.

Japan has also entered the picture: in June, law enforcement detained Hu Shi, a Cypriot citizen described as a senior Prince Group executive, following a request from China. China is seeking his extradition, saying he too was a C-level manager in the Prince Group structure.