On April 8, the Prince Group filed for Chapter 15 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeking recognition of insolvency proceedings in the British Virgin Islands.
S&C represents the Joint Provisional Liquidators—Paul Pretlove, David Standish and James Drury—of 30 British Virgin Islands-incorporated entities associated with the Prince Group in Chapter 15 proceedings. The Joint Provisional Liquidators were appointed by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (BVI) upon an application by the Attorney General of the BVI in what is understood to be the first public interest provisional liquidation in BVI history, and now seek recognition of the BVI proceedings in the United States.
The filing follows the indictment of Chen Zhi, the controlling owner of the Prince Group, by the U.S. Department of Justice for crimes related to the Prince Group’s operation across Cambodia that stole billions of dollars from victims in the United States and around the world. The filing also follows a civil forfeiture complaint seeking forfeiture of 127,271 bitcoin (the largest forfeiture action in U.S. history) and the imposition of sanctions on the Prince Group and 146 related individuals and entities by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, HM Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and other governmental authorities.
The S&C team includes Andy Dietderich, Alexa Kranzley, Sharon Cohen Levin, Chris Dunne, Jake Croke and Samantha Rosenthal.