Frozen $71M Belgravia Mansion Tied to Prince Group Crypto Fraud Network
UK authorities have frozen a $71 million London mansion in the Chelsea Barracks development in Belgravia registered to Zhao Chen, the wife of Hu Xiaowei, the second-in-command of Cambodia’s Prince Group designated over an alleged $15 billion Prince Group crypto fraud operation. The Chelsea Barracks freeze, recorded in late August 2026 by HM Land Registry, marks the most valuable single property action in the UK to date against a network of suspects tied to Prince Group crypto fraud proceeds.
Who Is Hu Xiaowei, the Prince Group crypto fraud second-in-command
Hu Xiaowei has been designated by the US Treasury as the second-in-command of the Prince Group, the Cambodian conglomerate sanctioned as a “transnational criminal organization” in 2025. According to UK Land Registry filings obtained by Transparency International and shared with OCCRP, Hu Xiaowei operates under multiple identities, including the alias “Wu An Ming.” OCCRP reported in November 2025 that Hu Xiaowei controls roughly $45 million in UK real estate, much of it layered through companies registered in jurisdictions the UK classifies as higher-risk for illicit finance. Hu Xiaowei and Zhao Chen obtained Cypriot citizenship together in 2018 as husband and wife, filings reviewed by OCCRP show. The couple’s documented presence in London and Nicosia under dual names has complicated earlier screening by conveyancers.
Inside the Belgravia Mansion: Prince Group crypto fraud network exposed through property
The Chelsea Barracks property was purchased in October 2023 for £53 million, equivalent to about $72 million at the prevailing exchange rate, according to Land Registry title records. It spans roughly 1,366 square meters and features a private swimming pool, cinema, and wine cellar, records show. The address sits within Qatari Diar’s flagship Belgravia scheme developed on the former barracks site, one of central London’s most expensive residential enclaves. A Land Registry restriction notice recorded against the title in late August 2026 bars any disposal, transfer, or charging of the property without consent.
How UK Enforcement Reached the Property and Zhao Chen’s Timor Leste Role
The UK sanctioned Hu Xiaowei in March 2026 under the country’s sanctions regime targeting transnational organized crime. The property freeze follows a June 2026 UK government strategy pledging to use property restrictions, account freezes, and director disqualifications to dismantle wealth acquired with illicit proceeds. Transparency International and OCCRP disclosed the freeze in late September 2026 after reviewing the registry filings. A UK government spokesperson declined to comment on individual cases but confirmed that asset restrictions placed under the strategy are not subject to public notice prior to registration. Zhao Chen has not been sanctioned.
According to corporate filings reviewed by OCCRP, Zhao Chen was listed as a shareholder in AB Digital Technology Resort until December 2025. The company planned a “blockchain theme resort” in Timor Leste alongside other sanctioned Prince Group figures. Her shareholding was removed from company filings in late 2025, the same period UK authorities were finalizing sanctions designations against Prince Group executives. The Timor Leste project does not appear to have advanced past planning, according to Timorese investment records.
Broader Prince Group crypto fraud crackdown: Chen Zhi, $15B forfeiture, pig-butchering compounds
Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi was arrested in Cambodia in January 2026 and extradited to China, according to statements from Cambodian and Chinese authorities. The US Department of Justice filed a $15 billion forfeiture lawsuit against Chen Zhi in October 2025, equivalent to 127,271 bitcoin at seizure prices — the largest cryptocurrency forfeiture action in US history. Parallel actions are under way in Hong Kong, where asset freezes have been imposed, in Singapore, where a money laundering investigation is active, and in Taiwan, where Hu Xiaowei has been indicted. Prince Group has denied all allegations; a spokesperson called the conglomerate “a collection of legitimate businesses serving millions of people.” The Prince Group crypto fraud case will be cited in cross-border asset recovery playbooks for years to come, and Prince Group crypto fraud investigators say the $71M mansion freeze is just one of multiple UK enforcement actions expected before year-end.
US prosecutors allege that Prince Group operated compounds across Cambodia where workers were held against their will and forced to participate in “industrial-scale” cyber-scamming, the so-called pig butchering schemes that have become the defining Prince Group crypto fraud model. According to the DOJ complaint, victims were lured through romantic and investment lures on social media, then steered into cryptocurrency deposits wired to addresses controlled by Prince Group subsidiaries. Investigators estimate the network’s total proceeds at $15 billion. The UK freeze of the Chelsea Barracks mansion is the first major test of whether London’s property register can be used as an enforcement front in cross-border Prince Group crypto fraud cases.
Source: OCCRP