General Licence INT/2026/9491628, issued by OFSI — the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, a unit of HM Treasury – today. The licence was issued under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 and allows for insolvency-related payments and activities connected with the Prince Group and their subsidiaries, subject to conditions.
In plain terms: the Prince Group and its associated people and companies have been hit with UK financial sanctions — meaning their assets are frozen and doing business with them is normally illegal. This licence is a carefully bounded exception that allows bankruptcy/insolvency proceedings to go forward despite those sanctions.
Who Is the Prince Group?
The Prince Group is a high-profile, multi-billion-pound conglomerate with extensive business activities across Cambodia and beyond.
In October 2025, the UK and US governments jointly sanctioned a network operating illegal scam centres across Southeast Asia. The UK and US designated the Prince Group as a transnational criminal organisation, accusing its chairman, Chen Zhi, of directing forced-labour “scam compounds” in Cambodia that used human trafficking victims to carry out cryptocurrency fraud, including “pig butchering” schemes — a form of fraud where victims are lured into fake romantic relationships and gradually convinced to invest large sums in fraudulent cryptocurrency platforms.
The UK’s statement of reasons says there are reasonable grounds to suspect Prince Group is responsible for engaging in, facilitating, or supporting human rights abuses; providing financial services knowing they may contribute to human rights abuses; and profiting financially from human rights abuses — specifically, the operation of scam centres in Cambodia involving forced or compulsory labour.
As a result of the October 2025 sanctions, a £100 million office block in the City of London, two multi-million-pound mansions, and a helicopter were frozen.
Earlier in 2026, Cambodia arrested and extradited Chen Zhi to China to face charges of masterminding a multi-billion-dollar cyber-fraud empire. He had his Cambodian citizenship revoked by royal decree prior to his expulsion.
What the Licence Actually Does
When a company is sanctioned, its assets are frozen — which creates a legal problem for insolvency proceedings, because those proceedings inherently involve moving money around (paying creditors, selling assets, etc.). This licence solves that problem.
The licence lists thirteen “Prince Group DPs” (designated persons) — the Prince Group Global Group Ltd itself, plus twelve related individuals and companies including Chen Zhi, and entities such as Byex Exchange Company Limited, BSquare Technology Co. Ltd., and Tian Xu International Technology PLC.
Under the licence, any person (including an insolvency practitioner), designated person, or subsidiary may carry out “Permitted Insolvency Activities,” and a Relevant UK Financial Institution may process payments made in connection with those activities.
The key constraint is significant: permitted insolvency activities include making, receiving, or processing payments and any other action in connection with insolvency proceedings — provided this does not result in funds or economic resources being made available directly or indirectly to or for the benefit of any designated person or subsidiary, save where such funds are ultimately held in a frozen account or treated as frozen.
In other words: money can move through the insolvency process, but it cannot end up back in the pockets of the sanctioned parties. Any funds recovered must remain frozen.
The licence took effect on 14 April 2026 and expires at 23:59 on 13 April 2031 — a five-year window.
Source Transparency
Directly sourced from the PDF itself (primary source):
- All details about the licence number, date, definitions, list of designated persons, permissions, conditions, and duration.
Sourced from UK government publications (GOV.UK and related official documents):
- The sanctions designation details and the UK’s statement of reasons for designating the Prince Group (from the October 2025 Financial Sanctions Notice published on publishing.service.gov.uk).
- The October 2025 joint UK/US announcement (gov.uk press release).
Sourced from OCCRP (investigative journalism):
- Details on the March 2026 widening of sanctions, the frozen London properties, Chen Zhi’s extradition to China, and Li Thet’s London penthouse seizure.
Sourced from Khmer Times:
- The scale of the “#8 Park” compound (reportedly capable of holding up to 20,000 workers) and Xinbi’s $19.9 billion in transactions — these figures originate from FCDO statements and Chainalysis data cited in those articles, not independently verified here.
Not directly supported by my sources:
- The internal operations of the insolvency proceedings themselves (who the insolvency practitioner is, what assets are involved, which jurisdiction is primary) — the licence notice doesn’t specify these, and I found no public reporting on them. The licence’s existence implies proceedings are underway or imminent, but the details are not public from what I could find.
- Whether Prince Group entities have meaningful UK-registered assets beyond the properties already publicly reported — the licence covers subsidiaries “incorporated anywhere in the world,” suggesting the proceedings may span multiple jurisdictions.
