UK authorities have frozen a London penthouse and £10 million worth of watches and jewellery belonging to a suspected key lieutenant in an alleged £46 billion Chinese scam network.
Thet Li, 39, bought the four-bedroom, 3,250-square-foot property for £8.9 million in 2022. The luxury residence overlooks Buckingham Palace and has been described as “stunning”.
Li was sanctioned by the UK and US in March and May over his alleged links to the Prince Group, which is accused of running “pig-butchering” romance scams and investment fraud from compounds across the Far East.
British officials allege that Li was a key lieutenant to the network’s leader and managed the Prince Group’s international financial operations.
Officials have placed a freezing order on the apartment’s Land Registry record, preventing the property from being sold or transferred.
They are also due to apply to a court today to extend the seizure of luxury watches and jewellery valued at £10.6 million, along with £92,570 in cash.
Images of Li’s 13th-floor penthouse show an open-plan kitchen opening into an opulent living room, as well as a roof terrace with views across St James’s Park and towards the Houses of Parliament.
Estate agents marketed the property as “stunning”, saying it blended “renaissance Italian influences with understated British elegance”.
Thet Li, 39, bought the “stunning” four-bedroom, 3,250-square-foot property near St James’s Park and the Houses of Parliament for £8.9 million in 2022
Li was sanctioned by the UK and US in March and May over his alleged role in the Prince Group
British officials have frozen the apartment’s Land Registry record to stop it being sold or transferred
According to the United Nations, the Prince Group allegedly used more than 100,000 trafficked workers in its scam operations.
“Pig-butchering” scams typically involve deceiving victims into believing they are in a romantic or social relationship before persuading them to send money or invest in a fraudulent scheme.
The scammers reportedly call their targets “pigs”, whom they “fatten” before “butchering”. Victims are often wealthy people in Western countries.
Li, who was born in Beijing, allegedly purchased citizenship in Cyprus, Cambodia, Saint Lucia, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
The US Treasury has described him as Prince Group’s “de facto illicit” chief financial officer, alleging that he handled bulk cash smuggling and the management of dirty money.
He allegedly ran scam centres from casinos and compounds, then spent the proceeds on private jets, luxury goods, and a Picasso painting.
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Li is also alleged to have laundered money through the Isle of Man. Two properties apparently owned by him there—a £3.75 million mansion and a £1.15 million coastal home—were raided by police in October last year.
He previously owned an artificial intelligence company based in Southampton, which has since been dissolved.
Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi, 38, was extradited from Cambodia to China in January
Prince Group’s chairman, Chen Zhi, 38, has had freezing orders placed on a £100million City of London office and a £12million mansion in St John’s Wood, north London.
He was extradited to China from Cambodia last year.
His alleged second-in-command, Wu An Ming, 44, paid £3.5million for the Udney Park playing fields in Teddington, south-west London. They were frozen earlier this year, alongside a £53million townhouse allegedly owned by Wu’s wife.
Wu is believed to have been arrested in Japan in June.
The Prince Group is allegedly linked to £8 Park, a scam compound thought to be the largest in Cambodia.
Cambodia’s government has launched its own crackdown on the scam economy, with local authorities estimating that 2,500 sites have been raided, leading to the closure of hundreds of scam centres and the release of tens of thousands of foreign nationals.
Announcing sanctions against Prince Group and Mr Zhi in March, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty said: ‘Our sanctions today send a clear message: We will not allow British people to become victims of these dreadful scams or tolerate the awful human rights abuses perpetrated in these scam centres.
‘We must keep up the pressure on dirty money and those who benefit from it. At the Illicit Finance Summit in June, the UK will drive international action to tackle the ways in which ill-gotten profits are laundered and moved around the world.’
A freezing order has been placed on a £12million mansion owned by Zhi in St John’s Wood, north London.
This building in the City of London is among the several properties owned by Zhi that have been seized
Last year, Prince Group said it ‘categorically rejects the notion that it or its chairman, Chen Zhi, has engaged in any unlawful activity’.
‘The recent allegations are baseless and appear aimed at justifying the unlawful seizure of assets worth billions of dollars. Nonetheless, these unfounded allegations, amplified by media reports repeating these and other unverified claims, have caused undue harm to thousands of innocent employees, partners, and communities who the Group serves,’ it said in a statement.
‘The Group remains committed to integrity, responsible investment, and sustainable economic growth across the region,’ it said, adding: ‘We are confident that when the facts come out, the Prince Group and its chairman will be fully exonerated.’
