Sipping an iced coffee at a Phnom Penh street stall this afternoon, watching tuk-tuks zip past in a cloud of motor exhaust, a massive piece of cross-border news popped up on my phone. UK authorities have just frozen a top-tier mansion in London’s upscale Belgravia district, valued at $72 million. Investigative outlets reported that the property was bought back in October 2023 for £53 million by a woman named Zhao Chen. What originally looked like just another high-end real estate deal quickly unraveled, pointing straight back to the sanctioned Prince Group.
The key to cracking the case came down to Zhao Chen’s husband. Public records confirm the two are married. Her husband goes by Hu Yanming—who turns out to be none other than Hu Xiaowei, a key figure in grey-market operations hit by US and UK sanctions. He used multiple aliases to stay hidden, including Chen Xiao'er and Hu Shi. Even though Zhao Chen isn't directly named on the sanctions list herself, her ties to Hu run deep; the couple even secured Cypriot passports together. With their affairs so closely intertwined, that grand London estate couldn't dodge regulatory watchdogs for long.
The rabbit hole goes even deeper. Zhao Chen previously held shares in a Timor-Leste company that once hyped up plans for a flashy "blockchain resort." That outfit's major shareholder was also hit with sanctions over ties to Prince Group. As young workers here in Phnom Penh hustle through late shifts or head home to small rentals, few would ever guess how illicit money quietly circles the globe—switching names, snapping up luxury mansions, and hiding behind hyped-up ventures.
