A man who U.S. federal prosecutors said ran one of the largest criminal networks in the world, relying on thousands of enslaved workers in Southeast Asia to bilk victims out of billions of dollars, has been arrested and extradited to China, Cambodian authorities announced on Wednesday.

柬埔寨当局周三宣布，一名被美国联邦检察官认为运营着世界最大犯罪网络之一的男子已被逮捕，并引渡至中国。检察官称此人通过东南亚数千名被奴役的工人从受害者手中骗取数十亿美元。

The man, Chen Zhi, 38, is a citizen of several countries, including China and Cambodia, though the Cambodian government said his passport has been revoked. He was arrested in Cambodia, where his company is based, and extradited to China on Tuesday, according to a news release from Cambodia’s ministry of the interior.

这名男子名为陈志，38岁，拥有包括中国和柬埔寨在内的多个国家公民身份，不过柬埔寨政府表示其护照已被吊销。根据柬埔寨内政部的新闻稿，他已在柬埔寨（其公司所在地）被捕，并于周二被引渡至中国。

Mr. Chen was the founder and chairman of the Prince Group, a Cambodian holding company that seemingly focused on luxury real estate. But in reality, federal prosecutors said, he used the company to mastermind an operation in which scammers persuaded unwitting victims to fork over their money, often via cryptocurrency.

陈志是柬埔寨控股公司王子集团的创始人和董事长，该公司表面上专注于奢侈房地产。但联邦检察官表示，实际上，他利用该公司策划诈骗行动，骗子们说服毫无戒心的受害者交出钱财，通常是以加密货币的形式。

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York announced Mr. Chen’s indictment in October, while he was still at large, and said that they had seized Bitcoin worth about $15 billion — proceeds from his scheme, they said. One of the networks that worked with Mr. Chen, prosecutors said, targeted more than 250 victims in Brooklyn and Queens, who lost more than $18 million. Other victims were in Russia, Taiwan, Vietnam and other countries.

纽约东区联邦检察官在陈志仍在逃期间，于10月宣布了对他的起诉，并表示已扣押价值约150亿美元的比特币——他们称这些均系其犯罪所得。检察官表示，与陈志合作的一个网络针对布鲁克林和皇后区的250多名受害者实施诈骗，导致他们的损失超过1800万美元。其余受害者来自俄罗斯、台湾、越南及其他国家。

His extradition to China, which Cambodian authorities said followed months of cooperation between the two governments, complicates the chances that Mr. Chen will ever face justice in an American courtroom. The United States does not have an extradition agreement with China, an economic and geopolitical archrival.

他被引渡至中国——柬埔寨当局称这是两国政府数月合作的结果——使得陈志在美国法庭上接受审判的机会变得渺茫。美国与中国这个经济和地缘政治上的主要对手之间没有引渡协议。

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn declined to comment. Representatives for the Cambodia’s Ministry of Information and the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Chen, who also represents the Prince Group in civil litigation, did not respond to a request for comment.

布鲁克林美国检察官办公室的一位发言人拒绝置评。柬埔寨新闻部和中国外交部的代表未立即回应置评请求。陈志的律师（同时也代表王子集团处理民事诉讼）未回应置评请求。

The online scam industry has ballooned in recent years, with Americans losing $16 billion in such schemes in 2024, according to the F.B.I. At least $10 billion was lost to swindles originating in Southeast Asia, according to the Treasury Department.

网络诈骗行业近年来急剧膨胀，根据联邦调查局的数据，2024年美国人在此类诈骗中损失了160亿美元。根据财政部数据，其中至少100亿美元流向源于东南亚的诈骗集团。

A common element in the nefarious sector, which has targeted hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia, is brutality. Criminal groups have preyed on poor migrants looking for job opportunities, trafficking them into compounds throughout the region in recent years, according to a 2024 report from the United States Institute for Peace, an independent nonprofit.

这个已经导致东南亚数十万人受骗的邪恶行业的一个常见特征是残暴。根据独立非营利组织美国和平研究所2024年的一份报告，犯罪团伙近年来诱骗寻求工作机会的贫困移民，将他们贩运到位于东南亚各地的园区。

Starting in 2015, according to federal prosecutors, Mr. Chen and his associates built their operation through forced-labor camps throughout Cambodia, guarded by high walls and barbed wire. They forced workers to carry out the scams at a blistering pace: A conspirator of Mr. Chen boasted that the Prince Group made more than $30 million per day from the schemes in 2018, according to the indictment.

根据联邦检察官的说法，从2015年开始，陈志及其同伙通过柬埔寨各地高墙和铁丝网包围的强迫劳动营建立起他们的生意。他们强迫工人以极快的速度实施诈骗：据起诉书显示，陈志的一名同谋曾经炫耀，王子集团在2018年从这些诈骗中每天赚取超过3000万美元。

Typically, the scammers would reach out to victims over social media platforms and develop a relationship, building a narrative that they were selling a lucrative investment opportunity or even seeking romance. Once the money was deposited, the scammers cut off contact with their victims.

通常，骗子会在社交媒体平台上联系受害者，建立关系，编造他们现在有一个利润丰厚的投资机会，甚至寻求建立恋情。一旦钱款存入，骗子就会切断与受害者的联系。

According to prosecutors, Mr. Chen kept detailed ledgers of the scams and how much money they made, labeling them as “Russian order fraud,” “Vietnamese loans” and “European and American market.”

根据检察官的说法，陈志保存了详细的诈骗账簿，记录了诈骗金额，并将它们标记为“俄罗斯订单诈骗”、“越南贷款”和“欧美市场”。

The illegal profits from the scheme, prosecutors said, were then laundered through a variety of sophisticated networks, including the Prince Group’s businesses in online gambling and crypto. Mr. Chen and his associates used the funds to buy luxury watches, private jets and even a Picasso painting through a New York auction house.

检察官表示，这些诈骗手段的非法利润随后通过各种复杂的网络进行洗钱，包括王子集团的在线赌博和加密货币业务。陈志及其同伙用这些资金购买奢侈手表、私人飞机，甚至通过纽约一家拍卖行购买了一幅毕加索画作。

On its website, the Prince Group says Mr. Chen had transformed the company into a “leading business group in Cambodia that adheres to international standard” that was “committed to sustainable business practices.”

王子集团在其网站上表示，陈志已将公司转变为“柬埔寨领先的商业集团，遵循国际标准”，并“致力于可持续商业实践”。