On November 5, the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned four people and 41 companies supporting the business network of transnational criminal organization Prince Group, as well as a Malaysian citizen accused of leading a scam network in Madagascar. The department said the measures target corporate and financial infrastructure that helped Prince Group launder proceeds, conceal asset owners and evade previous sanctions.
According to Treasury, people linked to Prince Group received billions of dollars from online scams, including digital-asset investment fraud and romance schemes. Many operations were run from scam centers in Southeast Asia, where people who had been trafficked were forced to work. Funds moved through offshore companies, financial intermediaries and digital-asset transactions.
Those designated include Qiu Yong, whom Treasury identifies as a Prince Group participant, and his assistant Zhao Mengyao. The department said Qiu owned companies in the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong and controlled firms linked to money lending, the wine business and other commercial projects. Zhao served as secretary and co-director at several Hong Kong companies.
