Prospective visitors were lured by the allure of luxurious villas with stunning views of turquoise waters at a groundbreaking cryptocurrency resort, designed for the tech elite to engage in discussions about cutting-edge digital advancements in lavish settings.
Promotional materials released in June of the previous year showcased an ambitious, state-of-the-art project intended to be situated along the coastline of Timor-Leste, one of the globe’s least affluent nations, with a commitment to donate a portion of its earnings to charitable causes.
However, in February, an investigative team comprised of reporters from the Guardian and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project visited the proposed location for the AB Digital Technology Resort. What they found was a barren lot, surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, with only a few shrubs scattered throughout.
This resort proposal is central to a four-month investigation into an obscure cryptocurrency and blockchain initiative referred to as AB. Through this inquiry, a potential link has been identified between three individuals associated with the resort and the Prince Group, a Cambodia-based multinational enterprise facing serious allegations of money laundering and fraud, which reportedly involves human trafficking, slavery, and violence. It is important to note that the AB network itself has not been implicated in any criminal activities, and the three individuals in question have since been removed from the project.
Scam operations have surged in Southeast Asia, evolving into a significant underground industry. Experts indicate that these fraudulent entities are increasingly seeking new, vulnerable targets beyond their usual regions.
The United Nations issued a caution last year regarding the threat of unidentified scam networks infiltrating Timor-Leste. A government official from Timor-Leste expressed concern that the nation, located just 700 kilometers from Australia, could become “an amusement park for transnational crime syndicates.” He remarked that the country is at a “critical juncture” reminiscent of its tumultuous struggle for independence from Indonesia over 20 years ago.
Throughout our investigation, we have sought to clarify the identities behind the Timor-Leste resort project and ascertain any involvement of associates from the Prince Group (there is currently no evidence that the project received funding from Prince Group). We meticulously examined corporate documents, official records, flight logs, text messages, and photographs.
What began as inquiries into a peculiar cryptocurrency resort in a developing nation quickly spiraled into a complex investigation involving former world leaders, international deals, private jet travel, and a dizzying assortment of conflicting testimonies, including outright denials from those purportedly connected to the project.
As we approached key figures linked to the resort—one of whom is a foreign national with a diplomatic passport issued by Timor-Leste—details were hastily removed from the AB website.
A former head of state, who was mentioned in promotional materials as a supporter of the project, denied having made the quoted statement or having any knowledge of the initiative when contacted.
The announcement of the resort on the AB website has since been taken down; however, stakeholders in the resort company maintain that the development will proceed.
Uncertainties linger regarding the project’s true intent, as the president of Timor-Leste expressed to the Guardian and OCCRP doubts about whether it is “genuinely a resort or merely talk.”
The Prince Holding Group, a multinational conglomerate, was sanctioned by the US Treasury in October for allegedly conducting large-scale online scams across Southeast Asia. The group’s founder, Chen Zhi, faces indictment in the US for purported wire fraud and money laundering, with billions in cryptocurrency seized from the organization.
While Prince Group positions itself as a conglomerate involved in real estate and financial services, US authorities allege it operates compounds linked to human trafficking and modern slavery, where extensive cyber fraud operations target victims globally through schemes known as “pig-butchering.”
In a dramatic turn of events in January, Chen was escorted off a plane by SWAT officers following his extradition to China. The specific charges he faces there remain unclear. China’s foreign ministry has announced that its authorities are working together to combat cross-border scams.
Pig butchering, or “sha zhu pan,” is a scam strategy where perpetrators target unsuspecting individuals worldwide via messaging and social media platforms, enticing them into fraudulent investment and cryptocurrency schemes. Scammers often create false identities to build trust and rapport with victims, sometimes over extended periods. These operations typically involve elaborate narratives promising high returns on investments, emergency situations requiring funds, or romantic entanglements. Once the victims have been duped into investing, the scammers sever ties and disappear with the funds. This illicit industry, run by organized crime, is valued in the billions of dollars, with scam centers proliferating across Southeast Asia, particularly in areas with weak regulatory oversight, such as Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos.
While the Prince Group has not responded to our inquiries, it previously rejected US allegations, asserting that the claims against it and Chen are unfounded and aimed at unlawfully seizing substantial assets. They stated, “We are confident that when the facts come out, the Prince Group and its chairman will be fully exonerated.”
Furthermore, the Guardian and OCCRP have discovered that the three individuals linked to the proposed resort in Timor-Leste—Yang Jian, Yang Yanming, and Shih Ting-yu—were also sanctioned by US authorities in October due to their involvement in another real estate venture associated with the Prince Group.
