What they're not telling you: Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The United States on April 23 imposed sanctions on a wealthy Cambodian senator, Kok An, who allegedly ran crypto-clarity-act-unless-trump.html" title="A Republican Senator Just Threatened to Kill the Crypto Clarity Act Unless Trump Is Banned From Promoting Crypto" style="color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-style:dotted;font-weight:500;">crypto-freeze-to-iran-in-sanctions-push.html" title="US links Tether’s $344M crypto freeze to Iran in sanctions push" style="color:#1a1a1a;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-style:dotted;font-weight:500;">crypto-romance scam centers that stole millions of dollars from U.S. Thai soldiers stand outside an abandoned scam center in O'Smach town on the border between Thailand and Cambodia on March 12, 2026. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images Kok, 71, is a political ally of Hun Sen, who served as Cambodian prime minister for 25 years before stepping down in 2023 and handing power to his son, Hun Manet.
# THE TAKE: America's Selective Morality Theater The US sanctioning a Cambodian senator for hosting romance scam operations is rich hypocrisy dressed as principle. Washington signals outrage over cybercrime while ignoring how Silicon Valley's surveillance architecture—built on American soil—enables the same predatory systems. Let's be clear: Kok deserves consequences. But this sanctions move performs righteousness rather than delivers justice. It's geopolitical theater masquerading as law enforcement, targeting a Cambodian official while US intelligence agencies have documented how American payment processors and hosting infrastructure knowingly facilitate transnational fraud. The real story isn't about one corrupt senator. It's that Washington reserves punishment for strategic adversaries and their enablers while turning a blind eye to the domestic infrastructure that makes these scams profitable. Sanctions are a cudgel, not a solution—deployed selectively when politically convenient, ignored when economically or diplomatically costly.
What the Documents Show
The 73-year-old is now president of the Cambodian Senate. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also sanctioned 28 individuals and entities linked to the suspected scam centers. “Eliminating fraud is a top priority for the Trump administration,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “Treasury will continue to target fraudsters and scam centers that steal billions of dollars from hardworking Americans, no matter where they operate or how well-connected they are.” Industrial-scale cyberscamming, based in scam centers in Burma (also known as Myanmar) and Cambodia, has become a major money-maker for organized crime groups.
Follow the Money
The Treasury said in a statement that operators within this network have “stolen millions of dollars from U.S. victims while operating under the protection of Kok An and his political connections.” The Treasury said fraudsters use “the lure of friendship or romantic relationships” to coax vulnerable Americans into transferring their savings in the form of digital assets by promising investment opportunities and high returns. Matthew Hogan, a detective with the Connecticut State Police and an officer on the Secret Service’s Financial Crimes Task Forces, told The Epoch Times last year tha t the biggest growth has been in long-term scams known as “pig butchering,” which involves luring people into fake cryptocurrency investments . The phrase comes from the Chinese term “sha zhu pan.” The Treasury said Kok owns numerous companies, including Crown Resorts, and has retrofitted casinos and office parks as scam centers where workers—who are often trafficked from China and other countries—target U.S. citizens and trick people out of cryptocurrency, which is then laundered by Kok’s associates. “ Nearly all major scam compounds in Cambodia are connected to casinos, which serve to launder the proceeds of scams, ” the Treasury said.
What Else We Know
Kok is a senator from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. It was founded during the Cold War, and was close to the Soviet Union and later communist Vietnam. It dropped its Marxist-Leninist ideology in the early 1990s. Andy Jenkinson, a fellow of the Cyber Theory Institute and author of the book “Stuxnet to Sunburst: 20 Years of Digital Exploitation and Cyber Warfare,” told The Epoch Times in April 2025 that the annual losses to cybercrime globally are “over $10 trillion, or put it another way, $32 billion a day.” The move was announced hours after stablecoin issuer Tether froze $344 million in its USDT stablecoin, allegedly linked to “sanctions evasion, criminal networks, or other illicit activity.” “ When wallets are identified as connected to sanctions evasion, criminal networks, or other illicit activity, Tether can move to restrict those assets, ” Tether said. The company also said it maintained a zero-tolerance policy toward the criminal use of USDT, and has long followed OFAC guidelines on sanctioned individuals and entities. Make sure to read our "How To [Read/Tip Off] Zero Hedge Without Attracting The Interest Of [Human Resources/The Treasury/Black Helicopters]" Guide It would be very wise of you to study our privacy policy and our (non)policy on conflicts / full disclosure .
Primary Sources
- Source: ZeroHedge
- Category: Global Power
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