UK Freezes $12M London Penthouse Allegedly Tied to Prince Group’s Finance Chief as U.S. Targets $14B in Bitcoin

UK regulators have moved to immobilize a luxury foothold allegedly linked to a global scam machine—freezing a £8.9 million ($12 million) penthouse near St James’s Park owned by 39-year-old Thet Li, described by authorities as the finance chief behind Prince Group’s money operations. The property, which overlooks Buckingham Palace and was purchased in 2022, now carries a Land Registry freezing order placed after a Foreign Office probe.

This London action lands alongside a sweeping U.S. effort to confiscate roughly $14 billion in Bitcoin traced to Prince Group-linked activity. A Washington-based Scam Center Strike Force has already tallied $580 million in crypto seizures and freezes, underscoring the combined on-chain and off-chain campaign to dismantle the group’s financial rails.

Authorities will seek a court’s approval on Monday to keep hold of Li’s watches and jewelry valued at £10.6 million, along with £92,570 in cash. Li was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in October 2025 as one of 146 Prince Group targets, labeled a de facto illicit finance CFO tied to bulk cash smuggling and dirty money management. The UK added sanctions in March under its global human rights regime, citing links to Cambodian scam centers accused of forced labor and cruel treatment.

Why this matters: property is the pressure point - Crypto tracing is fast; liquidation is slower. By freezing trophy assets—prime London real estate, high-end jewelry—authorities create immediate, real-world friction that crypto alone cannot avoid. These orders anchor complex investigations in cooperative jurisdictions and buy time to convert blockchain intelligence into court-ready cases. - The tactic raises costs for professional enablers. Registrars, conveyancers, gaming boards, and marketplaces now act as choke points. Authorities raided two Isle of Man homes apparently owned by Li last October with the FBI, and gaming licenses obtained on the island were allegedly used to launder proceeds—signaling that regulated perimeters can’t be passive bystanders. - The signaling effect matters. Pig-butchering rings prey on emotions and trust; high-visibility seizures in London’s wealth corridors flip the narrative, showing that off-chain lifestyles are vulnerable even when on-chain funds appear nimble.

The UK’s dragnet extends beyond Li. Freezing orders cover a £12 million mansion in St John’s Wood and a £100 million City of London office building tied to Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi. Chen was arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China. Assets linked to alleged deputy Wu An Ming—a £30 million Holland Park mansion and a £53 million Belgravia townhouse registered to a woman alleged to be his wife—have also been frozen; Wu was reportedly arrested in Japan in June.

Authorities characterize Prince Group as a front for industrial-scale online fraud, including romance and investment “pig-butchering” schemes. United Nations estimates suggest more than 100,000 trafficked workers have been forced into these operations. In parallel, the UK has sanctioned crypto marketplace Xinbi in a broader crackdown on Southeast Asian scam hubs, while Interpol has warned that interconnected scam compounds pose a global threat.

Prince Group has denied wrongdoing, saying last year that neither the organization nor its chairman, Chen Zhi, engaged in unlawful activity.

The immediate next step is procedural—UK authorities will ask a court to continue the seizure of Li’s luxury goods and cash. The strategic arc, though, is clear: pair Bitcoin tracing and U.S. forfeiture efforts with property freezes and sanctions in asset-rich jurisdictions, compressing escape routes across both code and concrete. That blend is increasingly where crypto crime cases are won.