OFAC sanctions 41 entities and four people behind Prince Group's corporate network
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readThe US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four individuals and 41 entities on 5 November for supporting the business network of the Prince Group transnational criminal organisation, which the United States had already sanctioned for cyber-enabled fraud, money laundering and human trafficking. OFAC also designated a Malaysian individual who it says defrauded US victims by managing a network of scammers based in Africa.
The action follows designations against Prince Group leaders, affiliated companies and financial facilitators on 14 October 2025 and 23 June 2026. According to Treasury, the newly listed people and companies kept the group running after those rounds by managing offshore corporate structures, hiding beneficial ownership, facilitating commercial activity and providing administrative and financial services to senior executives. Some of those named took part in moving property and holding companies with or for previously designated leaders, in an effort to evade the earlier sanctions.
Treasury describes the group's schemes as digital asset investment scams, romance scams and other online fraud, many run from scam compounds in Southeast Asia that rely on trafficked and coerced workers, with proceeds laundered through shell and offshore companies, facilitators and digital asset transactions.
Forty-five of the targets were designated under the order on transnational criminal organisations and one under the order on malicious cyber-enabled activity, in support of Executive Order 14390 of 6 March 2026 on cybercrime and fraud against Americans. The action was coordinated with the FBI's New York and Honolulu field offices, the Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force and the US Attorney's office for Alaska, with help from the British Virgin Islands Financial Investigation Agency and the UK Foreign Office.
What it means
Each round against Prince Group has moved further from the leadership towards the companies and professionals that keep money flowing. For banks the practical effect is a longer list of offshore entities and intermediaries to screen, not just the names at the top.