The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against 19 entities related to Southeast Asian scam networks, including several Chinese businessmen naturalized in Cambodia and their controlled banks and casinos. The U.S. stated that this move aims to combat transnational criminal organizations involved in human trafficking and forcing victims to participate in cryptocurrency investment scams. It is estimated that U.S. citizens lose billions of dollars annually to such scams.
The named Cambodian figures include Dong Lecheng, Xu Aimin, Chen Ailun (also known as Chen Fuzhou), and Su Liangsheng, along with their controlled enterprises such as TC Capital, HH Bank, KBX Investments, KB Hotel, Heng He Bavet, and MDS Heng He. These businesses are closely linked to casinos operated by Chinese criminal groups in Sihanoukville, which, although purportedly "legal," are hotbeds of scams targeting American and Chinese victims.
The Treasury Department revealed that the Sihanoukville Golden Sea Entertainment Casino operated by TC Capital has long served as a money laundering tool, concealing illegal fund flows and providing a covert space for scam activities. Chen Ailun employs personnel from the Sihanoukville telecom scam park to operate multiple cryptocurrency scam centers through Heng He Casino and the Bavet Park on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border, while also controlling several real estate companies and banks, maintaining connections with Chinese criminal leaders and Cambodian local business tycoons.
The U.S. emphasizes that these sanctions reveal how transnational criminal groups use casinos and cryptocurrencies to build vast scam networks. In May this year, the U.S. had already sanctioned the Cambodian Huawang Group, accusing it of providing money laundering channels for North Korean and Southeast Asian scam gangs, involving online theft and cryptocurrency investment scams (commonly known as "pig butchering plates").
