Private jets, deserted shores and an unbuilt resort: alleged links to sanctioned ‘scam’ empire revealed in Timor-Leste
Guests were enticed with the promise of luxury villas overlooking aquamarine seas; a world-first crypto resort where the tech elite could commune over the latest digital innovation in opulent surrounds. The promotional material from June last year pitched a sprawling, futuristic development that would hug the coastline of Timor-Leste, one of the world’s poorest countries, and donate a percentage of profits to philanthropy. But in February, when a joint investigative team visited the proposed site of the AB Digital Technology Resort – separated from Dili airport by a barbed-wire fence – we found an empty plot dotted with shrubs. The planned resort is at the heart of a four-month investigation by the Guardian and Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project into an obscure cryptocurrency and blockchain network known as AB.
Our investigation has uncovered an alleged connection between three individuals involved with the resort project and the Cambodia-based Prince Group, a multibillion-dollar transnational network accused of money laundering and fraud through elaborate 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 a vulnerable next target. Last year the UN issued a warning about the risk of (unnamed) scam networks infiltrating Timor-Leste. A Timorese government minister believes the country, just 700km from Australia’s doorstep, is at risk of becoming “an amusement park for transnational crime syndicates”. He said the nation was at its most “perilous crossroads” since the bloody fight for independence from Indonesia more than two decades ago.
Over months, we have tried to unravel the mystery of who exactly is behind the Timor-Leste resort project and what role, if any, Prince Group associates played in it (there is no allegation that the project received Prince Group funds). We have scrutinised corporate records, official documents, flight manifests, text messages and photographs. What began as questions about an unusual crypto resort in a developing country quickly became a labyrinthine investigation involving former world leaders, cross-border deals, private jets and a dizzying array of contradictory answers, including some outright denials, from those ostensibly involved. As we approached key players in the resort – one of whom, it can be revealed, is a foreign national granted a diplomatic passport in Timor-Leste – details were removed from the AB website. One former world leader who was cited supporting the project in promotional material denied when approached that the quote was his – along with any knowledge of the project. The resort announcement on the AB website has now been taken offline. But shareholders in the resort company said the development will go ahead. Questions remain about its purpose and, as the president of Timor-Leste told the Guardian and OCCRP, whether it is “really a resort, or just talk”. The sanctions against Prince Group The multinational conglomerate Prince Holding Group was sanctioned by the US Treasury in October last year 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 dramatic scenes in January, Chen was escorted from a plane by black-clad Swat officers after his extradition to China. It is not clear what charges he faces there. China’s foreign affairs ministry has said authorities are collaborating to combat cross-border scams.
Prince Group did not respond to our detailed questions but has previously denied the US accusations, saying in November that allegations of criminal activity by it and Chen were baseless and aimed at unlawfully seizing billions of dollars. “We are confident that when the facts come out, the Prince Group and its chairman will be fully exonerated,” a statement said. The Guardian and OCCRP can reveal that three individuals involved in the proposed resort project in Timor-Leste – 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 four months later sanctioned for involvement in a different luxury resort in Palau. The company heading up that resort was controlled by Chen, US authorities alleged.
Yang Jian did not respond to multiple requests for comment and is no longer a shareholder in the Timor-Leste project. Business records obtained from the Timor-Leste registry show he was 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 let go after the sanctions. Reached by phone, Shih confirmed that she worked for Yang Yanming but denied any knowledge of the Timorese resort project or any connection to the Prince Group. She did not respond to further requests for comment.
Yang Yanming told the Guardian and OCCRP he was deeply shocked by the US sanctions that had led to his dismissal from the Timor-Leste project. He said the allegations against him lacked “sufficient factual basis” and he had been inadvertently drawn into the matter. He said he intended to defend his “lawful rights”, had never engaged in illegal conduct and denied any association with Prince Group. His only interactions with Chen were casual dinners and “some simple chat about cigars”, including in Singapore in March 2023. He said the Timor-Leste project was established and operated lawfully and had “no connection whatsoever to scam compounds”. Crime networks infiltrate Timor-Leste Dili, a seaside capital of more than 300,000 people, features murals memorialising the heroes who resisted Timor-Leste’s 24-year occupation by Indonesia, including President José Ramos-Horta. For more than two decades he served as foreign minister-in-exile, a role for which he was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize. The streets are dotted with red Grand Dragon lottery booths emblazoned with the slogan “One Dollar, One Dream”. The online lottery has been shuttered by the government but locals continue to frequent Dili’s small casinos and street-side gambling matches.
In April 2024 Timor-Leste legalised offshore online gambling, leading to an influx of investors. One promoted the country as “Asia’s Next Malta”. But concern about the rise of transnational crime has been brewing in the capital since the raid of an alleged scam operation in Oecusse, a remote pocket of the country, in August. There is no suggestion that operation is connected to the AB Digital Technology Resort. In September the UN issued a warning about the infiltration of unnamed “transnational organized crime groups” through investment in Timorese companies by criminals, and one of the country’s most senior politicians published a blistering open letter on Facebook. In the extraordinary manifesto, Ágio Pereira, the minister of the presidency of the council of ministers, said Timor-Leste risked becoming “an amusement park for transnational crime syndicates”. “Will we be a sovereign nation governed by democratic laws and institutions,” he asked, “or will we become a criminal state possessed by foreign mafia?”
Pereira claimed that “suitcases full of dirty money” were being ferried into the country, and that fellow politicians were under pressure to keep quiet. He called on the country’s leaders to unite and act against “the criminal networks who think they have bought our nation”. For Australia too, there are risks if scam operations are able to grow there. “There’s 20 years of regional foreign policy that warns of the worst-case scenario that neighbouring states become havens for international crime,” said Michael Leach, a professor in comparative politics at Swinburne University of Technology. “Timor-Leste is a state that is still emerging from a difficult history.”
In November a group of Timor-Leste civil society leaders sent a letter to the prime minister, Xanana Gusmão, voicing alarm about claims that crime networks had “infiltrated national institutions through collusion with corrupt officials” and called for action, including the immediate review and cancellation of all diplomatic and work passports issued to non-citizens, and an independent international investigation. “The people of Timor-Leste did not fight for independence only to surrender our sovereignty to criminal cartels,” the letter concluded. The government has not yet responded. The businessman and the president The untouched beaches of Timor-Leste, a half-island nation almost entirely reliant on finite oil and gas reserves, have long been seen as a potential goldmine. That promise was not lost on a group of investors who flew into Dili in November 2024 for a tourism investment forum. Images from the event show the group posing at the state palace with colourful Timorese scarfs draped over their suits, government goody bags in hand. Among them was a key player in the AB Digital resort project: a slight man with a shaved head named Lin Xiaofan.
Better known in Dili as “Frank”, Lin presented himself as a representative of the “AB Charity Foundation”, which he said explored innovative blockchain and philanthropy models. There is no suggestion Lin is sanctioned or a member of Prince Group, and he is not accused of any criminality. In a late-night interview at his home in Dili in February, Ramos-Horta detailed his interactions with Lin, who often travelled to the country on a private jet. The Guangdong-born businessman presented himself as a “one of the earliest generations of Chinese internet entrepreneurs”, according to a résumé shared with the president on WhatsApp, and as the face of the proposed AB resort. Seated on his patio decked with posters of old Hollywood films and actors, from Marlon Brando to The Godfather, Ramos-Horta told the Guardian and OCCRP that in private conversations Lin had told him he wanted to do business in Timor-Leste.
“And if his businesses are legitimate, you know, as appeared in some of his formal presentations – blockchain, this and that, you know, hi-tech, all of that – yes, we would like to have that,” he said. Ramos-Horta said Lin had facilitated donations to help the developing nation. The president’s website highlights numerous donations from AB Charity Foundation to orphanages and scholarship funds, and AB Foundation trumpets a donation of US$500,000 to the president’s scholarship program.
“They sent me … about 100 laptops, 70 desktops, things like that – and other things I asked [for], vitamins for children, some for adults,” he said, adding that he had personally distributed the laptops to female university students most in need. The co-director and chair of the AB Foundation in Ireland, the former taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland Bertie Ahern, told the Guardian and OCCRP that he knew nothing of the donations. Lin, meanwhile, said he had been authorised by another director to make them from his personal account because the foundation had not yet opened a bank account. Ramos-Horta is himself one of 28 senior advisers to the AB Foundation set up in Ireland – invited, he said, by Lin. The president was so impressed by Lin’s credentials and the possibility he could attract investment to Timor-Leste that he granted Lin a diplomatic passport. It came with a new title: special adviser to the Timor-Leste president on economic and commercial affairs, and social and humanitarian issues in the Asia Pacific. A 28 July letter from Ramos-Horta, seen by the Guardian and OCCRP, requested the diplomatic passport in line with Lin’s new role. It was issued the same day, although the president said this came after “six months of consideration”. For investors, a diplomatic passport symbolised “prestige”, the president said, and he had been happy to oblige if Lin could be “helpful in terms of attracting investment”. “We don’t pay them anything,” he said. “So the least we can do is [offer] some status, which they like. Although in a practical reality, it doesn’t make any difference.”
The granting of diplomatic credentials to a businessman in a non-honorary consul role was “highly unusual”, a Timorese source told the Guardian and OCCRP. Such passports are expected to grant holders customs and visa privileges. The president denied that granting a diplomatic passport to an investor was unusual or that he had benefited in any way personally, saying he had been motivated only by advancing his developing nation. “I’m only interested in anything anyone can help in Timor-Leste,” he said. Initially the president said Lin’s passport had been granted for “six months to a year” but a copy seen by the Guardian and OCCRP shows the passport is valid until July 2030. The Timorese president later said he could cancel the passport at any time, and would do so if it were proved that Lin was linked to Prince Group – which Lin has denied. “If he’s actually involved with the Prince [group or individuals associated with it], the whole thing, well, that’s it,” Ramos-Horta said. “Any deal that they might have is off.” Who is Frank Lin? When Lin flew into Timor-Leste on a private jet, he was understood to be a well-connected entrepreneur. He often travelled with a Chinese film star. There were rumours of luxury property in Hong Kong and invitations to high-profile cryptocurrency conventions.
Dili’s political class knew him as the face of the AB Digital resort but, as we discovered, his name does not appear as a shareholder in the resort company in Timor-Leste or as a director of the Irish AB Foundation. Lin described himself to the Guardian and OCCRP as an “initiator” of the Irish AB Foundation, providing advice and promotion but holding no formal position. He said his shares in AB Digital Technology Resort LDA were held by a close friend. He said he had no role in the broader AB network and had “done a lot of work to bring investment to Timor-Leste” – although he did not provide any examples. He denied involvement with organised crime or any other wrongdoing, and said when the US sanctions had been imposed he had immediately dismissed the three alleged Prince Group associates from the resort. “Timor-Leste possesses abundant natural resources and strong potential for tourism development,” Lin said of his interest in the project. He said all his activities in the country had been “conducted within a legal and compliant framework, in cooperation with relevant authorities” and he had never sought improper benefits. In a separate conversation he told the Guardian and OCCRP: “I have always despised those who run scam compounds.” In response to questions about his connection to Prince Group associates, Lin said he had taken a “courtesy ride” while in the Philippines to Switzerland on the plane of Hu Xiaowei, but did not know of his alleged Prince Group connections. Hu was sanctioned under the name Chen Xiao’er for his role in the Prince Group in Palau, and the UK government alleged in March that he was “involved in the Prince Group’s financial network”, which he has previously denied via a spokesperson. He has not been charged.
Lin also said he had a “purely incidental” encounter with Chen Zhi at a dinner in London with “virtually no conversation” and had not been aware at the time of his relationship with Prince Group. Regarding Yang Jian, he described him as a “nominee shareholder” in the resort company. According to Lin, this meant Yang would only become a shareholder when he completed his capital contribution – but this had not taken place because of the sanctions. Untangling the AB entities The extent of Lin’s role was only one of several mysteries we encountered while trying to unpick the wider AB ecosystem. All promotional material for the planned Timor-Leste resort has now been deleted from its website.
A social media post promoting the project that quoted an ex-president in the Balkans – confirmed to be legitimate – was also deleted. An individual formerly cited as a spokesperson for the AB blockchain denied ever having a formal role. A team page has also been removed. Soon after we started to make inquiries, an explanatory chart went up on the website, mapping out the role of each AB entity. While the similar names are confusing, we’ll need to explain each one. It starts with AB DAO (an acronym for decentralised autonomous organisation), which is described as a community organisation and “not a legal entity”. AB Chain, an “open source blockchain network”, is also not a legal entity. In November it announced it would host the cryptocurrency of the Trump family’s firm, World Liberty Financial. There are two separate AB Foundations – one registered in Ireland proposes to become a not-for-profit enterprise, while the other is a company registered in the Cayman Islands. The Irish entity was referred to as AB Charity Foundation in publicity for the Timor-Leste resort, but it is now referred to as AB Foundation Company Limited by Guarantee. It is the Cayman Islands company, according to a Chinese businessman, Jacky Sui, that supports AB DAO’s projects. He describes himself as the AB ecosystem’s “initiator” and a “longtime friend” of Lin’s. Bertie Ahern, meanwhile, is co-director and chairman of AB Foundation in Ireland. He was quoted on AB DAO’s X account promoting the resort’s “economic and social development” goals for Timor-Leste but denied when we contacted him that the quote was his. He said he was unaware and unfamiliar with any plans in Timor-Leste and with any donations made in the foundation’s name.
The organisation, he said, was “independently established and has not commenced any operation or financial arrangements with any organisation anywhere”. “We have made no payments whatsoever.” The Guardian and OCCRP asked Wen Danjing, who is listed as the Irish AB Foundation’s other director, about the involvement of now-sanctioned individuals in the resort project. He said the foundation had no connection to Prince Group “or any criminal individuals”. His “relationship with AB DAO was limited solely to cooperation in charitable activities”. According to a new post on the ab.org website, which appeared after we asked questions, the entities AB DAO, AB Foundation (Ireland) and the Timorese resort company signed a memorandum of understanding last year. It was formally terminated on 27 November, Sui and Lin said. The document, which we have seen, stipulated that between 5% and 10% of the resort’s profits would go to AB Foundation (Ireland). According to Sui, the agreement was preliminary and had been “promptly” terminated, with no money changing hands after some individuals involved in the resort were sanctioned. “Our core work is focused on blockchain infrastructure,” he said. “We are not involved in resort development or real estate projects.” He said any proposed involvement of the AB DAO network in the resort project had now been scrapped. José Ramos-Horta reveals his doubts The beachfront land that was the proposed site of the 300,000 sq m resort remains mostly empty, save for children playing soccer on a dirt field. Promotional material suggested phase one of the development would be completed by the end of 2026. The Timorese president said he was sceptical about the project from the start. “I think it was a bit in their imagination,” he told the Guardian and OCCRP.
Later he said Lin and the foundation had “never presented even any serious plans, business plans, feasibility studies, nothing” to convince him the resort was going ahead. Lin told us that plans were being submitted to the appropriate local authorities, rather than as a business plan to the president, and that the project was recruiting a new general manager. Ramos-Horta also acknowledged moments of doubt about Lin, including when the businessman offered him night-vision surveillance equipment – which Lin said was to improve the CCTV system for the president’s house – and after he heard of the resort’s alleged links to individuals associated with Prince Group. But he said he did not like to “judge people based on allegations”. “Everybody I talk to, including Singaporean business, they say, yes, he has lots of money,” he said. “They say, yes, he’s genuine. He’s not bullshit. “I want [him to have the] benefit of the doubt.”
In messages relayed to Lin via an aide several months ago, the president warned him not to “play games with me”. Asked what he meant by that, the Timorese president said: “In the sense of, you know, lying about this resort. Because is [it] really a resort with clean money, or [for Prince Group] to wash money? “Is [it] really a resort, or just talk?” Lin said he understood concerns about crime in Timor-Leste but the AB company “and myself are not and will never be involved in any crimes”. He denied any connection with the Prince Group and called the resort project a “normal commercial activity” carried out in accordance with laws. The Timorese president, who at 76 is considering a third tilt at the top job, said he would not allow the nation to be exploited by malign actors. He told us he had never interacted with the sanctioned individuals involved in the planned Dili resort and when he became aware of allegations of Prince Group connections he approached international police investigators. “We must be unforgiving and ruthless against organised crime,” he said. “I lost brothers in the fight for independence and so many Timorese died for this country to be free. I don’t want this country to be overrun by criminals.” Do you know more? Contact kate.lamb@theguardian.com or ariel.bogle@theguardian.com
