OFAC & FinCEN Escalate Sanctions Action Against Prince Group Network

The United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has expanded its campaign against the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization (Prince Group TCO), with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designating nine individuals and 26 entities, while the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) moved to extend an existing special measure to capture an alleged successor entity.

The OFAC designations, made under Executive Order 13581 as amended, target Prince Group TCO leadership, scam compound investors, and an extensive network of front companies spanning the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Among those listed is Hu Xiaowei, described as the organisation's second-in-command, who was previously designated in October 2025 under the alias Chen Xiao'er. Hu controls a layered corporate structure used to manage funds and property, including Hong Kong asset management firms assessed to have received millions of dollars derived from cryptocurrency investment scam victims. The action also captures eleven UK-incorporated companies linked to one of Hu's subordinates.

In parallel, FinCEN proposed amending its October 2025 Huione Group Final Rule to include H-Pay Service PLC and any successor entity. Huione Group functioned as a laundering node for proceeds of cyber heists and virtual currency investment scams, and the amendment is intended to pre-empt circumvention of measures cutting the group off from the US financial system. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concurrently seized related infrastructure, with coordination support from the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and Japan's National Police Agency.

The action sits within a sustained Treasury focus on Southeast Asian scam centres, which a US government estimate links to at least $10 billion in American losses during 2024. For institutions, the immediate practical exposure lies in the breadth and corporate complexity of the designations: the dispersal of front companies across multiple jurisdictions, the presence of regulated entities including a commercial bank and securities firms within the network, and the OFAC 50 percent rule, which extends blocking to entities majority-owned in aggregate by designated persons. Sanctions screening, beneficial ownership analysis, and review of any historic exposure to the named structures warrant prompt attention.

Read the press release here.