Cryptotastic!

It’s so great that crypto is out there, all the people involved are the best:

Federal prosecutors seized $15 billion in cryptocurrency from an investment scheme known as “pig butchering” that they allege emanated from forced labor camps in Cambodia.

The Justice Department said it’s the largest forfeiture action in its history.

Prosecutors unsealed an indictment Tuesday charging Chen Zhi, a Chinese émigré who holds several passports and built the Cambodia-based Prince Group, one of that country’s largest conglomerates, charging him with money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.

Chen remains at large.

In a related action, the Treasury Department sanctioned dozens of affiliates of the Prince Group and designated them as criminal organizations.

The crackdown comes as investment scams known as “pig butchering,” named for the practice of fattening up prey before the slaughter, have been on the rise costing Americans millions of dollars.

Prosecutors allege Chen turned the Prince Group into one of the largest transnational criminal organizations in Asia. Authorities say Chen and others used the stolen money to buy yachts, private jets and a Picasso painting bought through a New York auction house.

Authorities said they seized 127,271 bitcoin, which is in US custody, that is currently valued at approximately $15 billion.

….

Chen and others allegedly operated at least 10 forced labor camps across Cambodia since 2015 to engage in cryptocurrency investment schemes. Authorities allege they laundered criminal proceeds through the business and paid bribes to government officials to stay ahead of criminal investigations.

According to the indictment, forced labor camps, surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, were turned into phone farms, or automated call centers, to carry out the cryptocurrency scheme and others.

The only surprise here is that the Trump administration didn’t just steal this idea.