UK authorities have frozen a penthouse worth £8.9 million on the 13th floor of a London building overlooking St James's Park and Buckingham Palace, belonging to Thet Li, the 39-year-old alleged chief financial officer of the Prince Group crypto fraud network. The freeze, first reported by The Times on Sunday, adds Li to a growing list of individuals tied to the group whose UK assets have come under scrutiny.
Li purchased the property in 2022. The US Treasury Department sanctioned him in October 2025 as part of a broader action naming 146 targets connected to Prince Group, describing him as the network's "de facto illicit CFO". The UK had already sanctioned Li in March under its human rights sanctions regime.
Beyond the penthouse, British authorities have seized £10.6 million in watches and jewelry along with £92,570 in cash from Li. A hearing to extend the seizure of those assets is scheduled for this Monday. In October, police raided two of Li's residences on the Isle of Man in a joint operation with the FBI.
Wider network under pressure
Li is not the only figure connected to Prince Group facing asset freezes in the UK. A £12 million mansion in St John's Wood and a £100 million office building in the City, both linked to Prince Group president Chen Zhi, have also been frozen. Chen Zhi was arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China.
Properties tied to Wu An Ming, described as Chen Zhi's alleged right-hand man, have likewise been frozen: a £30 million mansion in Holland Park and a £53 million townhouse in Belgravia registered to a woman believed to be his wife. Wu An Ming was reportedly arrested in Japan in June.
Prince Group has pushed back on the allegations. The organisation said it and Chen Zhi "categorically reject the idea that it or its president Chen Zhi engaged in any illegal activity".
A record Bitcoin claim
The asset freezes in London run parallel to a far larger action in the United States, where authorities are seeking to confiscate approximately $14 billion in Bitcoin linked to Prince Group, a figure described as a record. The Scam Center Strike Force has separately claimed $580 million in crypto seizures and freezes tied to the broader crackdown on online fraud operations of this kind.
The United Nations has estimated that more than 100,000 workers have been engaged in forced labour across scam centres of the type the Prince Group is alleged to operate, underscoring the scale of the networks that UK and US authorities are now attempting to dismantle through asset seizures on both sides of the Atlantic.
