A planned luxury cryptocurrency resort in Timor-Leste, one of the world’s poorest countries, appears to be stalled, raising concerns about potential links to a transnational criminal network accused of fraud and human trafficking. The proposed AB Digital Technology Resort, pitched as a futuristic development with philanthropic aims, currently exists as an empty plot of land.
The Planned Resort and Alleged Connections
Promotional material from June of last year touted luxury villas overlooking the sea and a space for the tech elite to discuss digital innovation. The project was intended to donate a percentage of its profits to philanthropic causes.
However, a joint investigative team found an empty plot dotted with shrubs when they visited the proposed site in February, separated from Dili airport by a barbed-wire fence.
The investigation, conducted by The Guardian and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, uncovered alleged connections between three individuals involved with the resort project and the Cambodia-based Prince Group, a multibillion-dollar network accused of money laundering and fraud through scams reliant on human trafficking, slavery and violence. The AB network is not accused of criminality and the three individuals have since been removed from the project.
Scam centres have flourished in south-east Asia and now represent a massive illicit industry. Experts say scam operators are looking further afield for vulnerable targets.
The UN issued a warning last year about the risk of unnamed scam networks infiltrating Timor-Leste. A Timorese government minister believes the country, located just 700km from Australia, is at risk of becoming “an amusement park for transnational crime syndicates”. He said the nation was at its most “perilous crossroads” since its fight for independence from Indonesia more than two decades ago.
The Sanctions Against Prince Group
The multinational conglomerate Prince Holding Group was sanctioned by the US Treasury in October for allegedly operating large-scale online scam operations across south-east Asia. Prince Group’s founder, Chen Zhi, was indicted by the US for alleged wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, and billions of dollars in bitcoin was seized.
The group describes itself as a real estate and financial and consumer services conglomerate but US authorities allege that it ran compounds reliant on human trafficking and modern-day slavery, “where industrial scale cyber fraud operations target victims around the world” through so-called “pig-butchering” scams.
In January, Chen was escorted from a plane by black-clad Swat officers after his extradition to China. China’s foreign affairs ministry has said authorities are collaborating to combat cross-border scams.
Q&A
What is a ‘pig- butchering’ scam?
Show
Pig butchering, also known as “sha zhu pan”, is a type of scam in which malicious actors target unwitting victims around the world through messaging and social media platforms then lure them into fraudulent investment and cryptocurrency schemes.
Scammers dupe targets by using false identities to develop relationships with them, sometimes over many months. Pig butchering often relies on social engineering to earn the victims’ trust. Offenders work off scripts, create fake accounts and can even use mocked-up rooms mimicking banks and police stations.
Common scam narratives include lucrative investment opportunities, emergencies necessitating funds and romance scams. Perpetrators may even coach victims through the investment process, showing them fake profits to encourage them to invest more. Once funds are stolen, perpetrators sever contact with victims.
The scam industry is run by organised crime groups and is worth billions of dollars. Scam compounds in which illicit activities are perpetrated at an industrial scale have proliferated in south-east Asia, including in poorly regulated border areas in countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.
Prince Group did not respond to requests for comment but has previously denied the US accusations, stating in November that allegations of criminal activity were baseless and aimed at unlawfully seizing billions of dollars.
The investigation revealed that three individuals involved in the Timor-Leste resort project – Yang Jian, Yang Yanming and Shih Ting-yu – were also sanctioned by US authorities in October for their involvement in another real estate development connected to Prince Group. They have not been charged.
Yang Jian, who was listed as the majority shareholder of the AB Digital Technology Resort LDA when it was registered in June 2025, was sanctioned four months later for involvement in a different luxury resort in Palau. The company heading up that resort was controlled by Chen, US authorities alleged. Yang Jian is no longer a shareholder in the Timor-Leste project, having been removed just days after the sanctions were announced.
Yang Yanming and Shih, who also worked for the Palau project, were hired to work on the Timor-Leste resort but were let go after the sanctions. Shih confirmed she worked for Yang Yanming but denied any knowledge of the Timorese resort project or any connection to the Prince Group.
Crime Networks Infiltrate Timor-Leste
Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, features murals memorialising the country’s resistance to Indonesian occupation. The streets are dotted with Grand Dragon lottery booths.
In April 2024, Timor-Leste legalised offshore online gambling, leading to an influx of investors. In September, the UN issued a warning about the infiltration of unnamed “transnational organized crime groups” through investment in Timorese companies. Ágio Pereira, a Timorese minister, published a letter on Facebook warning that Timor-Leste risked becoming “an amusement park for transnational crime syndicates”.
The Businessman and the President
In November 2024, a group of investors, including Lin Xiaofan, a key player in the AB Digital resort project, flew into Dili for a tourism investment forum. Lin presented himself as a representative of the “AB Charity Foundation”.
President José Ramos-Horta said Lin had told him he wanted to do business in Timor-Leste and had facilitated donations to the developing nation. Ramos-Horta granted Lin a diplomatic passport, citing his role as special adviser to the president on economic and commercial affairs.
Ramos-Horta said he was sceptical about the project from the start and questioned whether it was “really a resort, or just talk”.
Who is Frank Lin?
Lin described himself as an “initiator” of the AB Foundation and denied any involvement with organised crime or the Prince Group. He said the resort project was a “normal commercial activity”.
The AB entities include AB DAO, AB Chain, and two AB Foundations – one in Ireland and one in the Cayman Islands. Promotional material for the resort has been deleted from the AB website.
The status of the resort remains uncertain, with the land remaining largely undeveloped.
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