Frozen London property tied to Prince Group adds up to £204 million across five addresses
UK authorities have frozen the £8.9 million London penthouse of Thet Li, alleged Prince Group finance chief, The Times reported. The flat is the smallest of the five London properties on the paper's list.
The Investor · Invest desk
Four figures in £ million: Thet Li's frozen penthouse, £8.9 million; the City of London office building tied to Chen Zhi, £100 million; the Belgravia townhouse linked to Wu An Ming, £53 million; Li's seized watches and jewelry, £10.6 million.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Li's frozen penthouse | £8.9 million | 1 | |
| Chen-linked City office building | £100 million | 7 | |
| Wu-linked Belgravia townhouse | £53 million | 8 | |
| Li's seized watches and jewelry | £10.6 million | 9 |
What happened
- The freezing order sits on the flat's Land Registry record and followed a Foreign Office investigation.
- The UK sanctioned Li in March under its global human rights regime, citing his links to Chen Zhi and Prince Group's Cambodian scam centers.
- Orders also cover a £12 million St John's Wood mansion and a £100 million City of London office building tied to Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi.
- Assets tied to Chen's alleged deputy, Wu An Ming, are frozen too: a £30 million Holland Park mansion and a £53 million Belgravia townhouse.
- On Monday authorities go to court to keep Li's £10.6 million of watches and jewelry, plus £92,570 in cash, under seizure.
Why it matters
- Who's exposed exposure Any lender, buyer or agent asked to deal in the flat now meets a freezing order on its title record, so the check falls at title stage, before any money moves.
- What it limits constraint The freeze stops Li selling, renting or profiting from the flat, and the reports describe no UK step to take ownership. Any payout to scam victims, whom Cryptobriefing says the freezes could matter to, needs a further move.
- What doesn't add up contradiction The two reports value the US Bitcoin claim at about $15 billion and about $14 billion. On the 127,271 coins Cryptobriefing cites, that implies roughly $117,900 and $110,000 a coin.
- What it sets up precedent The UK listed Li about five months after the US Treasury did in October 2025, so a sanctions screen built on one government's list can run months behind another's.
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The five freezes sum to about £203.9 million [13], and the City office building alone is 49% of it [15], against 4.4% for the flat [14]. Cryptobriefing reports a further London mansion tied to Li, valued at about 170 million yuan ($24 million), that Decrypt's account does not list [21], so the total may be understated.
That skew is where the compliance angle gets tested. A flat owned by one man mostly touches the man. An office building worth £100 million [7] can have a lender, a managing agent and tenants paying rent into someone's account, and each of those is a firm standing next to frozen property. The reports name none of them. We think the exposure is real but so far hypothetical, and we would call it wrong if no filing, court notice or regulator statement ever names a counterparty to any of the five.
Two other outcomes are as plausible. The orders could stay confined to the named owners, with the cost landing on them alone. Or the sweep could widen: Hong Kong's court froze roughly HK$8.9 billion in May 2026 [22], and Wu was reportedly arrested in Japan in June [11]. Prince Group denies wrongdoing. It said last year that it "categorically rejects the notion that it or its chairman, Chen Zhi, has engaged in any unlawful activity." [10]
The two accounts also disagree on the flat. Cryptobriefing puts it at £9 million and dates the freeze to March 2026 [19]. Decrypt, citing The Times, gives £8.9 million [1], says Li paid that sum in 2022 [2], and places the March action as his UK sanction [5]. We use the Times figure because a purchase record sits behind it.
What to watch
- Monday's court application on Li's £10.6 million of watches and jewelry and £92,570 in cash: whether the seizure is continued.
- Any filing, court notice or regulator statement that names a lender, tenant or managing agent for the £100 million City office building.
- Whether the UK moves from freezing orders to forfeiture proceedings on any of the five properties.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
UK authorities have frozen a London penthouse belonging to Thet Li, the alleged finance chief of Prince Group, valued at £8.9 million, The Times reported on Sunday.
- [2]
Li, 39, paid £8.9 million in 2022 for the 13th-floor apartment near St James's Park, according to the report.
- [3]
Authorities placed a freezing order on the flat's Land Registry record following a Foreign Office investigation.
- [4]
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Li in October 2025 among 146 Prince Group targets, describing him as a "de facto illicit finance CFO".
- [5]
The UK sanctioned Li in March under its global human rights regime, citing his links to Chen Zhi and Prince Group, whose Cambodian scam centers it says subject workers to forced labor and cruel treatment.
- [6]
While the freeze stands, Li cannot sell, rent, or otherwise profit from the property.
- [7]
Freezing orders also cover a £12 million mansion in St John's Wood and a £100 million office building in the City of London tied to Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi.
- [8]
Assets linked to Chen's alleged second in command, Wu An Ming, including a £30 million Holland Park mansion and a £53 million Belgravia townhouse registered to a woman alleged to be his wife, have also been frozen.
- [9]
Authorities will apply to a court on Monday to continue the seizure of Li's watches and jewelry, valued at £10.6 million, along with £92,570 in cash.
- [10]
Prince Group said last year that it "categorically rejects the notion that it or its chairman, Chen Zhi, has engaged in any unlawful activity."
- [11]
Chen was arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China; Wu was reportedly arrested in Japan in June.
- [12]
The UK listed Li about five months after the US Treasury did.
- [13]
The five London properties on The Times's list total about £203.9 million.
- [14]
Li's penthouse is about 4.4% of the £203.9 million total.
- [15]
The £100 million City office building is about 49% of the £203.9 million total.
- [16]
At £8.9 million, Li's penthouse is the smallest of the five London properties on The Times's list.
- [17]
The U.S. has sought forfeiture of about $14 billion in Bitcoin tied to Prince Group.
- [18]
The US Department of Justice moved to seize about 127,271 Bitcoin allegedly tied to the group's activities, valued at approximately $15 billion.
- [19]
Cryptobriefing values the Li penthouse at £9 million ($12 million) and dates the penthouse freeze to March 2026.
- [20]
On the 127,271 coins Cryptobriefing cites, $15 billion implies about $117,900 a coin and Decrypt's $14 billion implies about $110,000 a coin.
- [21]
UK authorities also froze a London mansion valued at approximately 170 million yuan (around $24 million) and luxury watches linked to Li.
- [22]
A Hong Kong court imposed restrictions in May 2026 freezing roughly HK$8.9 billion in assets connected to Chen and Li.
- [23]
Asset freezes in the UK and Hong Kong could matter if recovery efforts eventually seek to compensate people who lost money to the alleged scams.
Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cryptobriefing.comUK freezes $12M London penthouse of alleged Prince Group finance chief
1 article · October 12, 2026
- decrypt.coUK Freezes $12M London Penthouse of Alleged Prince Group Finance Chief
1 article · October 12, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Sanctions and asset freezes
- Scam Compound Networks
- Crypto forfeiture