DOJ $225M Pig Butchering Civil Forfeiture — U.S. v. Approx. $225,364,961 in USDT
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anchored·4RkadB…P1UzSummary
On June 18, 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia filed a civil forfeiture complaint (case 25-cv-1907) to seize approximately $225.3 million in USDT — at the time the largest-ever U.S. seizure of funds tied to cryptocurrency confidence scams. The funds were traced through a complex blockchain money-laundering network to a Philippines-based call center compound and approximately 144 accounts on the OKX exchange, with victims numbering more than 430 globally. The action sits within a broader 2025–2026 enforcement wave by the Scam Center Strike Force, which froze and seized over $580 million in cryptocurrency by February 2026 from Chinese transnational criminal organizations operating pig-butchering scam compounds in Burma, Cambodia, and Laos.
Connected Entities
10 entities · 60 linked investigations- OKX→mentioned with→Bitcoin(65%)
- Chen Zhi / Prince Group→mentioned with→Bitcoin(80%)
- Ethereum→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- DOJ $225M Pig Butchering Civil Forfeiture — U.S. v. Approx. $225,364,961 in USDT→mentioned with→Chen Zhi / Prince Group(85%)
- Tether→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Huione Group→mentioned with→Chen Zhi / Prince Group(85%)
- DOJ $225M Pig Butchering Civil Forfeiture — U.S. v. Approx. $225,364,961 in USDT→mentioned with→FBI Operation Level Up — Crypto Fraud Victim Alert Program(80%)
- DOJ $225M Pig Butchering Civil Forfeiture — U.S. v. Approx. $225,364,961 in USDT→mentioned with→Huione Group(80%)
- Chen Zhi / Prince Group→mentioned with→Huione Group(80%)
- DOJ $225M Pig Butchering Civil Forfeiture — U.S. v. Approx. $225,364,961 in USDT→mentioned with→Jiang Wen Jie(80%)
- + 10 more
Timeline(10 events)
July 2023
Heartland Tri-State Bank (Elkhart, Kansas) collapses; regulators later establish that CEO Shan Hanes embezzled $47.1 million of bank funds and directed them to a pig-butchering scam platform traced to the same network targeted in the June 2025 complaint.
FortuneJune 2023
Tether freezes $225 million in USDT linked to a pig-butchering network and notifies the U.S. Secret Service, which authorizes the seizure — the largest in Secret Service history at that time.
TRM LabsAugust 2024
Shan Hanes, former CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank, is sentenced to 24 years in federal prison for embezzling $47 million of bank funds and directing them to the pig-butchering network.
Fortune18 June 2025
U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia files civil forfeiture complaint 25-cv-1907 to seize approximately $225,364,961 in USDT — the largest-ever U.S. seizure tied to crypto confidence schemes. Complaint alleges connection to a Manila, Philippines compound (ITECHNO Specialist Inc.) and identifies 434 victims globally.
NBC News14 October 2025
DOJ and UK partners file forfeiture complaint targeting approximately 127,271 Bitcoin (~$15 billion) in the Prince Group case, surpassing the $225 million action as the largest forfeiture in DOJ history. Chen Zhi, founder of the Cambodia-based Prince Group, is indicted on wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering charges.
CNN12 November 2025
DOJ formally launches the Scam Center Strike Force, a multi-agency initiative targeting Chinese transnational criminal organizations operating pig-butchering compounds in Southeast Asia.
TRM Labs6 January 2026
Chen Zhi is arrested by Cambodian police, has his Cambodian citizenship revoked by royal decree, and is extradited to China — reportedly preventing U.S. extradition.
DL News26 February 2026
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announces Scam Center Strike Force has frozen, seized, and forfeited over $580 million in cryptocurrency from Chinese transnational criminal organizations in under three months of formal operation.
U.S. Secret Service23 April 2026
Scam Center Strike Force charges two Chinese nationals (Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wen Jie) for managing the Shunda compound in Min Let Pan, Burma; restrains $701.96 million in cryptocurrency; seizes 503 fraudulent investment websites and a Telegram recruitment channel with 6,000+ followers.
DOJ Office of Public Affairs21 July 2026
DOJ files five additional civil forfeiture complaints targeting over $25 million in USDT tied to pig-butchering rings, with laundering activity traced to IP addresses in China, Malaysia, and Cambodia.
ScamWatchHQDecision Log
- hash: Gv7KxLLsYQ2bARAhJcAYaCoNUpQbgeMpUJSfXjHGrA58
- hash: GPqT4tXd8LJE9fRCYoifcgXyq3DfHgutSHvYw2Ngr5ZB
- hash: EnGvTvRVKnGLqgc2f7eznCwycoLCdUiyw6xH6PUgS12Q
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (3 events). 23 of 24 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 8/22/2026, 5:14:51 PM
last updated: 8/25/2026, 3:23:02 AM
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