Cambodia has extradited Li Song, one of the key leaders of an online scam gang led by Chen Zhi, to China to face multiple charges of money laundering and fraud.
Foreign news agencies reported on 1 Apr 2026 that Li Xiong, a former financial services executive charged by the United States with illegal money laundering for cybercriminal groups in North Korea and Southeast Asia, was extradited from Cambodia to China last Wednesday.
China's state broadcaster CCTV released footage showing 41-year-old Li Song, former chairman of Huione Group, with a shaved head and handcuffed, being escorted by Chinese police off a China Southern Airlines plane.
The U.S. Treasury Department stated last year that Huione Group, headquartered in Phnom Penh, served as a "key hub for laundering funds derived from cyber theft" conducted by the North Korean government, as well as laundering money for transnational criminals in Southeast Asia involved in cryptocurrency investment scams.
The U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) noted that Huione Group, owner of several companies providing e-commerce, payment, and digital currency exchange services, laundered at least $4 billion illicitly between August 2021 and January 2025.
China's Xinhua News Agency reported that Li is a key figure in a "major transnational fraud and gambling syndicate," citing information from China's Ministry of Public Security.
"Investigations found that Li Song, former chairman of Huione Group under the Prince Group network, is a suspect in multiple criminal cases," the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.
In January, Cambodian authorities extradited Chen Zhi, founder of Prince Group, to China as a fugitive, just months after his Cambodian companies were sanctioned by the U.S. and U.K. governments over alleged involvement in online fraud operations.
On Wednesday, Chinese authorities identified Li of Huione as a "key member of the criminal gang led by Chen Zhi," while Cambodia's Ministry of Interior stated in a release that Li was arrested in Cambodia and deported to China at China's request after a joint investigation lasting several months.
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Source:cna