SINGAPORE – He was generous with charities and often dined with the well-connected in Cambodia while pitching himself as a businessman, but casino kingpin She Zhijiang was in fact the brains behind an illegal gambling and online scam empire with links to people and firms throughout South-east Asia.

She’s operations tapped blockchain technology developed by a Singapore-based firm to move cryptocurrency, had investors from Malaysia and Myanmar, and ran casinos in the Philippines and Cambodia, where online gambling was later banned.

The 41-year-old has also been linked to a vast network of companies worldwide, including in Britain, which were used to launder the billions he made since starting out as a small-time businessman in Hunan, China.

She, who is also known by other names including She Kailun and Tang Kailun, according to China-based news website Caixin, has also been linked to scam operations in Myanmar and Cambodia, and human trafficking.

One of She’s firms – Yatai International Holdings – put out recruitment advertisements on Facebook with promises of well-paying jobs amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw a rise in unemployment and underemployment.

Hundreds of young people from Asia and Africa took the bait but were instead forced to work in the online gambling houses and scam centres in the Shwe Kokko Special Economic Zone in Myanmar. The United States Institute of Peace said Shwe Kokko’s main backer is She, who invested billions.

A report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, released last Tuesday, said those being kept against their will at such centres include Singaporeans.

She, who was born in China, initially ran an online gambling business in the Philippines targeting Chinese nationals. When the government in China clamped down on online gambling, which is illegal, the 41-year-old ran.

Since 2020, more than 130,000 people linked to 24,000 cases of cross-border gambling have been arrested by the police in China.

She, like many in the online gambling trade, became a fugitive. He moved to Cambodia and received citizenship in 2017.

His associates followed suit, as did many Chinese nationals who were involved in the online gambling trade.

The Straits Times has learnt that of the 10 suspects arrested in Singapore during an islandwide anti-money laundering blitz, nine were granted Cambodian citizenship.