U.S. Treasury expands sanctions on Prince Group network and moves to tighten Huione restrictions

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Treasury sanctions Prince, Huione

Highlights

OFAC sanctioned nine individuals and 26 entities linked to Prince Group TCO and proposed expanding Huione Group restrictions to H-Pay Service PLC and successors.
Treasury coordinated with the UK, FBI, Australia's AUSTRAC, and Japan's National Police Agency to disrupt money laundering and scam infrastructures facilitating cybercrime against Americans.
Americans lost at least $10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scam operations in 2024, up 66% from 2023, prompting expanded sanctions blocking all U.S.-controlled property of designated persons.

Sanctions expansion and proposed rule change

As reported by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned nine individuals and 26 entities linked to the Prince Group TCO, while FinCEN has proposed amending its October 2025 Huione Group final rule to include H-Pay Service PLC and any successor entity. Treasury says the measures are designed to further disrupt money laundering and scam operations that have used Huione Group as a conduit for cyber heist proceeds and virtual currency investment fraud.

The department says the action builds on its October 14, 2025 designation of Prince Group as a transnational criminal organization, coordinated at the time with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Treasury adds that the latest move also runs in parallel with an FBI New York Office seizure of infrastructure used by Huione Group to scam Americans, with support from Australia's AUSTRAC and coordination with Japan's National Police Agency.

Treasury says the measures are taken under Executive Order 13581, as amended, and in furtherance of President Donald Trump's Executive Order 14390 of March 6, 2026 on combating cybercrime, fraud and predatory schemes against American citizens. The department also says the action follows earlier Cambodia-related designations in September 2024, September 2025 and April 2026 targeting networks tied to cyber scams, human trafficking and illicit financial activity.

Targets, scam losses and sanctions impact

The sanctions focus in part on Hu Xiaowei, whom Treasury describes as the Prince Group TCO's second-in-command, along with a web of companies in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong and Singapore. Treasury also names subordinates and affiliated investors, executives and businesses, including firms in Hong Kong, Cambodia, Thailand and the UK, that it says helped manage assets, facilitate fraud operations or launder scam proceeds.

Treasury says Southeast Asia-based scam operations continue to target Americans through cyber-enabled fraud, with one of the most lucrative schemes involving fake digital asset investment platforms. A U.S. government estimate cited in the announcement says Americans lost at least $10 billion in 2024 to scam operations based in Southeast Asia, up 66% from the previous year, while criminal groups also use coercive labor practices inside scam compounds to force workers to defraud victims online.

Under the sanctions, all property and interests in property of designated persons that are in the U.S. or under the control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Treasury says transactions involving blocked persons are generally prohibited unless authorized, and warns that U.S. and foreign individuals or institutions may face civil or criminal penalties for violations, while FinCEN's proposed rule is open for written comment for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Our earlier article on the UK Financial Reporting Council’s penalties against auditor King & King and its engagement partner Milankumar Patel detailed how the regulator found serious independence breaches across more than 140 audits of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance companies. We noted that the firm’s heavy revenue dependence on GFG entities was central to the case, leading to fines, bans and monitoring requirements that highlighted wider concerns about audit-sector safeguards and client concentration risk.

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