Updated June 26 2026
In China the courts know him as Hu Xiaowei 胡晓伟, born in 1982. On the Caribbean islands Saint Kitts and Nevis he was registered as Chen Xiao'er 陈晓儿. Near Holland Park in London be bought a Victorian mansion for USD 39 million with the name Wu an Ming 吴安明. In Singapore he held shares of companies with the name Hu Shi 胡适. From this name there was a connection to a a nine-unit luxury property on Stanley Beach Road in Hong Kong. Here we will call this man with multiple identities Hu, according to his Chinese family name. Hu has for some months remained at large. He was a fugitive being tracked by Chinese, Taiwanese, Singaporean, South Korean, U.S. and UK authorities.
But now Hu Xiaowei has been arrested in Osaka according to The Asahi Shimbun together with two other Chinese nationals. According to NHK investigative sources say Hu repeatedly entered Japan under a Highly Skilled Professional status with a five-year period of stay. This status was introduced in Japan in 2015 for highly skilled foreign professionals who are expected to contribute to Japan's academic research and economic development.
In Taiwan prosecutors labeled Hu Xiaowei "second in command" of the Cambodia-based Prince Group, guided by Chinese-Cambodian chairman Chen Zhi, in early 2026 arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China in January 2026 for allegedly masterminding a massive cyber-fraud empire involving forced labor compounds and multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency frauds. Some say, that Chen Zhi used to call Hu "big brother". Southeast Asia has been hit by a cyber-fraud crime wave of epic proportions over the past decade. In countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines, industrial-scale scam operations have targeted victims around the world, stealing as much as $64 billion annually, according to a United Nations report this year. Hu Xiaowei seems to be a mastermind in this business and in laundering the stealed fortunes. But so far he has denied to be involved in the operations of Prince Group.
In Taiwan Hu Xiaowei is accused of presiding over a network of 250 companies across 18 countries to disguise criminal proceeds. In Taiwan, he allegedly set up nine key subsidiary firms, many of which operated from the same building: Peace Palace (和平大苑) tower block in Taipei's Daan District. His St. Kitts and Nevis passport provided him visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to approximately 150 countries and territories, including the UK, EU and Hong Kong. He holds also citizenships from China, Cambodia and Cyprus. With these changing identities he was able to hide his connection with the cyberscam frauds and launder it with property investments according to the investigators.
The sanctions by U.S. Treasury and UK
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Hu in late 2025 under the name Chen Xiao’er as a key member of the "Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization". The sanctions were paired with actions against Xinbi (or New Coin), a illicit Chinese-language crypto marketplace Hu allegedly used to move stolen assets. On March 26, 2026, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCD) sanctioned Xinbi as a critical financial layer for scam centers across Southeast Asia. The action also targeted Legend Innovation Co. and its director Eang Soklim as operator of #8 Park — described as Cambodia's largest scam compound; Thet Li, a key lieutenant of Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi, who has managed the Prince Group's international financial network, and Hu Xiaowei. These international sanctions provided the legal basis for Taiwanese authorities to seize approximately US Dollar 144.95 million in local assets, including luxury apartments in Taipei.
The UK Government sanctioned Hu for his role as a key financial enabler for the Prince Group. All UK-based funds and economic resources of Prince Group were frozend, worth estimated US Dollar 1.5 billion.
Hijacking around "Legend of Mir"
On July 24, 2011, the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau's Cyber Security Division in China busted a piracy network called “Knight Attack Group”, a criminal hacking ring that hijacked private server advertising platforms around the South Korean game "Legend of Mir" with DDoS attacks, reportedly skimming over $10 million in advertising revenue from almost 200 servers across China. Founder Cai Wen had recruted Hu Xiaowei, who was born in 1982 in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, graduated from Chongqing University in 2005 and worked for a local electronics company as a marketing manager. Hu was identified as the Chongqing ringleader, but he fled abroad. Caixin reported that also Chen Zhi was a member of the group but was not among those arrested.
On November 2 in 2011 Hai Lian Engineering Investment Group Limited 海聯工程投資集團有限公司 has been registered in Hong Kong, located on Concordia Plaza, Science Museum Road, Yau Tsim Mong. For the registration the name Chen Xiao'er has been used.
2011: Chen Zhi and Hu Xiaowei flee to Cambodia
When applying for a bank account in the British Isle of Man in 2019, Chen Zhi listed an unnamed uncle as the source of a $2 million loan used to establish his first Cambodian real estate company, as compliance documentation reveales. Speculations that Hu Xiaowei could be this "uncle" have not been confirmed. Journalism and law enforcement sources show that Chen Zhi likely amassed his foundational wealth in China's internet underworld through the "Knight Attack Group", where Hu Xiaowei has been involved. Corporate and investigative records show that Chen Zhi arrived from China's Fujian province and almost immediately plunged into Cambodia's real estate sector in 2011. This happened after the Chongqing police raided and dismantled the Knight Attack Group. At the same time Hu Xiaowei dislocated his activities to Cambodia. Chinese corporate records show, that 2015 both were shareholders of Zhongjing Technology Investment Co Ltd, registered in Beijing. This company was established on December 11, 2013.
Reports indicate that Hu Xiaowei apparently returned to China and was arrested in 2016 on charges related to a massive $850 million online gambling operation. He had reopened pirate servers for “The Legend of Mir 2.” Wemade Entertainment Co., Ltd., the copyright holder of the online game "Legend of Mir," filed a report with the Yinchuan police, alleging that Chongqing Xiaoxian Online Technology Co., Ltd., controlled by Hu, had been illegally operating the game by setting up private servers for "Legend of Mir". Police officers in Yinchuan, said that Chongqing Xiaoxian amassed over 6 billion yuan in illicit funds within two years of its establishment.
Investments in Singapore
Hu Xiaowei is linked to Future Oasis Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based company incorporated in 2022 and set up as a family office, whose sole shareholder is Future King, a British Virgin Islands-registered firm ultimately owned by Hu. In June 2026 the police of Singapore declared that they are investigating Hu Xiaowei and Qiu Wei Ren over alleged money laundering offences linked to Prince Group by the company Future Oasis. Since March 2026, more than S$600 million in cash and assets, including three properties, a yacht and luxury cars, bags and watches, have been seized or placed under prohibition of disposal orders by authorities in Singapore. Qiu had served as the director of a now-defunct Singapore management consultancy firm, Fly the Sky International Management, between 2021 and 2025. The firm had $2 million in start-up capital and five directors who held citizenships from Cambodia, China, Cyprus and Malaysia.
Shell companies on British Virgin Islands, acivities in Hongkong and investments in Singapore and United Kingdom
Future King Inc. is Hu’s primary holding company on British Virgin Islands (BVI), incorporated in February 2017. He used his alias Wu An Ming in Hong Kong stock exchange filings to control this company. Through Future King Inc., Hu owns the beneficial rights to several Hong Kong-based asset management firms, especially China Reserve Securities Ltd. and Future Wing Financial Company Ltd. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Future Wing Financial Company Limited received millions of dollars directly traced to cryptocurrency investment scams of Prince Group. China Reserve Securities, backed by its licensed financial status in Hong Kong, provided a veil of institutional legitimacy, allowing the network to layer and move funds through international banking channels. Future Oasis Pte Ltd was established in Singapore in 2022 as a family wealth office. Tthe network of this companies controlled by Hu Xiaowei was to channel the layered proceeds from the Hong Kong entities into Singapore to purchase high-value real estate, luxury yachts, supercars, and high-end consumer goods.
Future King Inc. owns several other shell companies registered in Hong Kong that are utilized to shuffle funds and manage physical properties: Future Cosmos Limited; Future Cosmos One Limited; Future Cosmos Two Limited; CN Crystal Limited and CN Breeze Limited. CN Breeze Limited according to OCCCRP was the registered owner of a private jet. Flight records showed the jet made multiple trips to Japan starting in March 2023, carrying key insiders of Prince Group.
More details about people and companies sanctioned by Office of Foreign Assets Control of U.S. Treasury.
The Hong Kong High Court in May 2026 has frozen HK$8.93 billion (USD 1.15 billion) in assets tied to the Prince Group's founder, Chen Zhi, and his associates—including Future King Inc. and its controller Hu Xiaowei —following an application by the Hong Kong Justice Department. Frozen are stock and crypto holdings and bank deposits, HK$400 million belonging explicitly to Hu Xiaowei. The Hong Kong High Court has scheduled a follow-up hearing for August 3 to review the injunction and determine whether the asset freeze will be extended.
Eagle Fortitude Limited is another company of Hu un British Virgin Islands, incorporated in May 2019, also sanctioned by OFAC on 23 June 2026. According to the U.S. authorities this company was utilized by Hu under his alias Chen Xiao'er to embed himself into legitimate equity markets. Hu used Eagle Fortitude Limited for takeovers and holding shares in publicly traded entities, such as Cayman-incorporated HKE Holdings Limited on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the intention to get legal stock market gains.
Leisure Focus Limited is another company on BVI controlled by Hu, established in July 2020. it was blocked under the June 2026 US sanctions sweep to sever Hu’s ability to move capital through Caribbean offshore havens. Leisure Focus Limited acquired the Imperial College Sports Ground at Udney Park Road in Teddington in southwest London in August 2022, where Hu operated with the alias Wu An Ming.
Investigations by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that Hu Xiaowei held a U.K. property portfolio valued at least at USD 45 million. According to OCCCRP he also purchased for 30 million British pounds ($39 million) a central London mansion in his own name in 2022, which was partly financed with a mortgage from Citibank. The mansion is a stone’s throw from Holland Park, in one of the most expensive residential areas in London.
The U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has frozen Hu's properties in March 2026.
Read also:
Chen Zhi: Cyberscam Tycoon escorted to China by Beijings most prominent SWAT Team - far away from U.S. Courts
Chen Zhi - Inside one of Asia's allegedly most sophisticated Transnational Criminal Organization. What happened
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