Chen Zhi is the mastermind behind a worldwide plot

Chen Zhi seemed to be a business genius, earning millions in real estate and airlines, among other ventures

Prosecutors in the US and the UK claim he is the leader of something much darker.

They would make an excellent band name. However, Chen Zhi and the Prince Group are actually a global scourge that combines cybercrime and human trafficking, two of the worst crimes of the modern era. According to The Guardian, Western authorities are becoming harsher. Chen and 146 other companies associated with his Prince Group were sanctioned by the US and the UK last month in a massive move known as "the largest action ever in Southeast Asia." The company was accused of holding trafficked workers in "scam compounds" throughout Cambodia and forcing them to "engage in a range of fraudulent schemes" that have defrauded victims worldwide of billions of dollars.

Chen Zhi, 38, also known as "Vincent," is a Chinese-born kingpin who has been charged with money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy but "remains at large." It might be difficult to stop him. In addition to having Cambodian citizenship, Chen is believed to have obtained citizenship in Cyprus and the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. His influence in Cambodia has increased. His quick rise to power has given him political clout; he has reportedly served as an advisor to the autocratic former prime minister Hun Sen as well as his son and successor, Hun Manet.

Jacob Sims of Harvard University's Asia Center told CNN, "Chen Zhi isn't a mob boss as we traditionally conceive of them; he is (or rather was) the polished face of a state-protected criminal economy." The "baby-faced tycoon" has ascended to "the highest echelons of power in his adopted home," where "he oversees one of the nation's largest and best-connected conglomerates, while bestowing scholarships and running philanthropy programmes." US prosecutors claim that at the height of his influence, Chen and associates were earning £30 million daily from their vast transnational criminal organization.

Chen Zhi is a person.

He was born in Fujian, a province in southeast China, in 1987. According to Bloomberg, the now-deleted website of the Chens Singapore family office described him as a "young business prodigy" who got his start opening internet cafes and gaming centers in Fuzhou, the provincial capital. CNN reports that Chen "began splashing enormous amounts of cash" after renouncing his Chinese citizenship and showing up in Cambodia. Beginning in 2011, he made his first real estate investments. Prince's skyscrapers can be found throughout Cambodia's cities. However, the group's interests expanded over the following ten years to include finance, entertainment, and even airlines.

According to Bloomberg, the sanctions list now includes assets from all over the region, including two listed companies in Hong Kong and a Singaporean auto loan company. However, Chen, who reportedly resides in Singapore and is married with three kids, doesn't appear to have anticipated the threat. "As recently as the day the US charges went public," his family's business posted a job posting for a personal assistant, offering exorbitant compensation of up to £5,000 per month. CNN claims that the conditions in a cybercrime empire that extends to at least "10 forced labor camps" are in stark contrast to this. The US indictment details "vast dormitories, surrounded by high walls and barbed wire" with "frequent" instances of coercion and violence.

Due to the "complete dismantling" of the nation's independent media and civil society, these operations have so far largely gone unchecked in Cambodia. Now, the question is whether the US and the UK can use their power to destroy the profitable sector. According to Sims, "this is the first time Washington and London have hit the architecture, the elite ownership, the money itself, and the laundering conduits at the very top." Whether they are successful in apprehending Chen Zhi will remain to be seen.