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Expand The story of human trafficking, hundreds of thousands of bitcoins, and geopolitical intrigue surrounding billionaire Chen Zhi didn't end with his indictment. In fact, it's getting even wilder. Chen Zhi built a criminal empire using modern slavery and cryptocurrency fraud. Yesterday, the US Department of Justice announced the seizure of 127,271 bitcoins, valued at over $14 billion, from wallets linked to Chen Zhi's Prince Group businesses. This is the largest bitcoin confiscation in US history. And now, the numbers are growing. Chen Zhi wasn't just laundering bitcoins stolen through fraudulent schemes; he was also mining them. His organization allegedly ran one of China's largest bitcoin mining operations—a mining pool called "LuBian," which ranked sixth globally in 2020. Prosecutors allege that LuBian's mining was intended to conceal billions of dollars in illicit profits from a "pig slaughter" scam in forced labor camps across Cambodia. However, in 2020, the mining operations came to a screeching halt. LuBian claims it was hacked and 127,000 bitcoins disappeared overnight. But those bitcoins are now in the custody of the US government. The indictment suggests the alleged theft may have been fabricated, part of a larger money laundering scheme to obscure the crime. This week, old LuBian wallets, dormant for over three years, suddenly became active. And now, their activity is even more intense. 16,237 bitcoins were transferred from an unsanctioned wallet to a new address, and analysts noticed that a known wallet belonging to Chen Zhi (not on the sanctions list) also revived, transferring another 5,000 bitcoins. Less than 24 hours after the US announced its largest-ever seizure, over $2.4 billion worth of bitcoins was quietly transferred. So, what happened? Are these 16,000 and 5 bitcoins… 2,000 bitcoin wallets that US authorities quietly seized in a covert follow-up operation that has yet to be announced? The US Department of Justice has yet to comment. If the unsanctioned addresses and LuBian wallets seized in the past 24 hours are included, an additional 21,237 bitcoins, worth approximately $2.3 billion, would be seized, in addition to the 127,000 bitcoins already seized from the Prince Group, valued at $15 billion. This brings the total number of bitcoins currently controlled by the United States to over 345,000, an increase of over 70% in a single week. But don't forget that Chen Zhi remains at large. And somewhere, he still controls approximately 15,000 bitcoins, worth approximately $1.6 billion at today's prices. Many questions remain. If Chen Zhi remains missing, how did the US government control the private keys and transfer these bitcoins? How much of these recovered bitcoins will ultimately end up in the hands of victims? The government says it will never stop fighting for the victims' rights, but once a civil forfeiture order is approved by the court, the assets become its property. Victims must navigate a lengthy and arduous legal process to regain ownership, and the friction involved almost guarantees that the government will take the lion's share. Will Chinese or Cambodian authorities hand Chen Zhi over? This raises a larger question. If this was just one operation, how many other such large-scale operations are underway? Thanks to @saniexp, @emmettgallic