By Patricia Kowsmann and Gabriele Steinhauser
DILI, East Timor -- Last fall, the Trump administration announced criminal charges and sweeping sanctions against what it said was a transnational criminal syndicate that had stolen billions of dollars from Americans and others through online scams.
Less than a month later, the Trump family's crypto company, World Liberty Financial, announced that it had partnered with a virtual-currency venture called AB, one of whose projects -- a planned "blockchain"-themed resort -- had been led by two men sanctioned in the U.S. crackdown.
The two men were the controlling shareholder and the general manager of the resort AB was developing in the Southeast Asian island nation of East Timor. The men were sanctioned for their alleged work for the Prince Group, which the U.S. government says is one of the largest criminal organizations in Asia.
The U.S. Justice Department said on Oct. 14 that Prince Group operated at least 10 violent scam compounds in Cambodia, where enslaved workers were forced to conduct online rackets such as "pig butchering," in which they develop online relationships with victims and steal their money. The same day, the Treasury Department sanctioned more than 140 people and companies for their alleged involvement with what it said were Prince Group's scam operations and a globe-spanning web of companies to launder their proceeds.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel called the U.S. action against Prince Group "one of the largest financial fraud takedowns in history."
A lawyer for World Liberty said it has never had any association or relationship with the sanctioned individuals and that it had no knowledge of the planned "blockchain" resort when it announced its arrangement with AB. He said World Liberty's arrangement with AB wasn't a partnership, but rather a "limited non-exclusive technology integration" to enable use of the Trump family's USD1 stablecoin on AB's network.
The due diligence World Liberty conducted was proportional with the nature of its arrangement with AB and didn't identify any sanctioned individuals, the lawyer said.
"WLF takes its compliance obligations very seriously," he said.
World Liberty announced its arrangement with AB on Nov. 12, saying in a post on X that "WLFI Partners with AB." AB called it a partnership in a news release.
The man who identifies himself as the responsible party for the AB virtual-currency venture, Sui Chenggang, said the arrangement with World Liberty wasn't related to the sanctioned men because the AB resort project was an independent entity. He said that AB terminated a preliminary agreement with the resort project after the U.S. government's sanctions were announced.
He said that AB didn't inform World Liberty of the sanctions against the men when they were imposed, but did so later after World Liberty approached AB about the matter. Sui said AB "provided reasonable and compliant explanations and evidence, confirming that the [sanctioned men] have no connection with AB."
The World Liberty lawyer said his client first became aware of allegations that AB was connected to a project in East Timor that had involved sanctioned individuals in January this year.
Yang Yanming, the general manager of the planned resort, said he never had any business dealings with Prince Group. He said he was dismissed from his AB resort position on Oct. 16, days after being sanctioned by the U.S.
Lawyers for Yang Jian, the controlling shareholder of the resort project, didn't respond to requests for comment. They have previously said that Yang Jian wasn't affiliated with Prince Group. He was removed as a shareholder after being sanctioned.
A spokesman for Prince Group said neither its founder nor the group has any connection to AB or East Timor or any activity in the country, adding it will defend itself against "false allegations" from authorities in the U.S.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and other news outlets previously reported on AB.
Crypto network
On its main website, ab.org, AB says it is a collection of separate entities that make up a broader "ecosystem." They include a crypto network called AB Chain, which allows users to transfer money through virtual currencies, and a Cayman Islands-registered company that funds AB's activities. There is also an Ireland-registered AB charitable foundation with an advisory board studded with prominent politicians from Europe, Latin America and Africa.
AB has said the resort had been planned as a partnership of the virtual-currency venture and the charity foundation and was going to be part of the AB ecosystem.
When World Liberty announced it had partnered with AB in November, the resort project had its own dedicated section on AB's website and was featured in AB's social-media posts and news releases.
World Liberty said in its post on X that its arrangement with AB "marks a key step in expanding USD1's global adoption." World Liberty's lawyer said no money changed hands and there is no profit-sharing arrangement with AB.
AB has said it wants to build a "new financial system" on a global scale and drive stablecoin issuance. Stablecoins are typically pegged to the U.S. dollar and used for trading, overseas payments and money transfers.
World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin has already netted the Trump family and the company's other owners tens of millions of dollars from U.S. Treasury-bill investments made to back the token.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said that President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children and that there are no conflicts of interest. "President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public," she said.
World Liberty's USD1 is the only stablecoin currently deployed on AB Chain, said Sui, the man who says he is responsible for the AB virtual-currency venture. It is prominently displayed on the main AB website.
'Blockchain' resort
AB announced the "blockchain" resort in East Timor, a poor island nation north of Australia, in June 2025. It called the resort a "flagship project" and said that it would include villas and a yacht club and host crypto and artificial-intelligence events, and that some of its proceeds would go toward charity.
Resort guests would be able to pay with and exchange cryptocurrencies on site, and holders of AB's own token would enjoy exclusive discounts, AB said.
Sui said the description of the resort as a "flagship project" was promotional language based on plans for it to adopt the virtual-currency network's technology. It didn't mean the resort belonged to his virtual-currency venture or was controlled by it, Sui said.
On June 17, a company called AB Digital Technology Resort was registered in East Timor to develop the resort. The company listed Yang Jian, a 42-year-old born in China who travels on a Cypriot passport, as the controlling shareholder, according to East Timor's corporate registry.
Yang Yanming, who is 35 and was born in China but also holds passports from Cambodia and Vanuatu, said he was the resort project's general manager.
In its October action against Prince Group, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned both of the Yangs, saying they worked to set up a different resort controlled by Prince Group's founder in Palau, another Pacific island-nation. The Treasury said the Palau resort, which hasn't been built, was a "predatory investment," without giving more details.
Yang Yanming said that he had also been the general manager of the Palau resort, but that he wasn't aware of any connections between the Palau resort company, which was also sanctioned, and Prince Group.
"During my tenure in Palau, I never participated in, nor had any knowledge of, any illegal activities," Yang Yanming said. He said he only became aware of the resort's alleged connections to Prince Group after the sanctions.
Yang Yanming said he introduced Yang Jian to the AB resort project in East Timor and that the latter expressed interest in investing in it. Yang Yanming said an investment agreement between the resort company and Yang Jian was canceled after the U.S. sanctions and before Yang Jian had invested any capital.
He said that Yang Jian was removed as a shareholder on Oct. 17, three days after the sanctions were unveiled.
A preliminary agreement between the virtual-currency venture, the charitable foundation and the resort company was terminated on Nov. 27, after the arrangement with World Liberty was announced, according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mention of the resort was later removed from the AB website.
Worldly connections
The main AB website doesn't say who owns or controls its various entities.
Sui, a 48-year old Chinese citizen, said he is the "actual controller" of the AB virtual-currency venture , including the Cayman Islands company.
Lin Xiaofan, a China-born tech entrepreneur who said he was a longtime friend of Sui, said he owned the Timor resort company together with other business partners, although his name isn't on the corporate registration. He said he hadn't been involved in creating or managing the AB virtual-currency venture, which he said is separate from the resort and is controlled by Sui.
Lin said that he never had any contact with Yang Jian, who was the controlling shareholder in the AB resort company, and that the company made a "clean and complete separation" from both Yangs after they were sanctioned in October.
When asked if he personally had any connections with Prince Group, Lin, who is 44 and travels on a passport from the Caribbean country St. Kitts and Nevis, said "none whatsoever."
In 2023, two years before the creation of AB, Lin shared a private-jet flight with Chen Xiao'er, who was also sanctioned by the U.S. along with the Yangs over the Palau resort last October. Chen owned the private jet that he, Lin and others used to travel from the Philippines to Switzerland via Dubai.
Lin said that he merely accepted a ride from Chen, whom he knew by a different name, and that it happened before the U.S. announced its sanctions.
Chen's wife, Zhao Chen, was also a shareholder at the AB resort company until she was removed in December, according to East Timor's corporate registry. Lin said that he never had any contact with Zhao.
Chen Xiao'er said he had no involvement with AB and "absolutely no corporate ties or formal affiliation with the Prince Group," though he said he was a longtime friend of Prince Group's founder and at times invested alongside him, including in the Palau resort. He said he has been separated from his wife since 2020.
Zhao didn't reply to a request for comment.
Lin said he met Ryan Fang, a World Liberty co-founder and its head of growth, in August last year at a dinner in Hong Kong. Lin said he introduced Sui to Fang in September.
Talks between World Liberty and AB started that month, according to Sui and Lin.
Write to Patricia Kowsmann at patricia.kowsmann@wsj.com and Gabriele Steinhauser at Gabriele.Steinhauser@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 28, 2026 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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