Cambodian authorities have arrested a prominent businessman featured in a 2023 BBC Eye investigation into alleged online scam operations as part of a wider effort to tackle organised online fraud.


Kuong Li, a 50-year-old Cambodian national, was charged with illegal recruitment for exploitation, aggravated fraud, organised crime and money laundering relating to alleged offences committed in Cambodia and elsewhere since 2019.


On 15 January, a Phnom Penh court ordered him to be remanded in custody pending further proceedings.


Kuong Li was featured in The Pig Butchering Romance Scam, a BBC Eye investigation into allegations of human trafficking and fraud inside scam compounds in South East Asia.


That programme, broadcast in March 2023, focused in part on the Huang Le compound, a venue under Kuong Li's ownership in the coastal city of Sihanoukville.


The documentary followed the account of 'Didi', a Chinese man who said he left home after being promised a well-paid job, but was trafficked into Cambodia and forced to work inside the walled compound.


Didi said he was made to work from 20:00 to 08:00 local time, targeting victims in Europe and the United States, and was not permitted to leave the complex.


He also shared secretly recorded footage with the BBC and the Global Anti-Scam Organisation (Gaso), a volunteer-run group that helps rescue and support trafficked victims.


In a video diary recorded inside his dormitory, Didi said he was told to keep scamming as long as you're alive, and that he'd witnessed another victim being beaten and dragged out of the office after making a mistake.


In desperation, Didi attempted to escape by jumping from the third floor. He later took shelter in a safe house in Phnom Penh, before eventually returning to China.


Three years after the documentary was broadcast, he is now working in a factory in southern China.


The investigation also featured testimony from another Chinese man, Mi Lijun, who said he became seriously ill while being held at the compound. He was found abandoned on a highway and taken to hospital. The BBC obtained footage of his final hours before he died from organ failure.


The documentary identified Kuong Li as the owner of the Huang Le compound and reported that his business empire covered real estate, casinos, hotels and construction companies. He had previously been awarded the royal honorific title 'Oknha' and had been pictured alongside senior officials at public and private events.


The BBC put these allegations to Kuong Li and the Sihanoukville province police. Neither responded to the request for comment before the documentary was broadcast.


In April 2023, however, the Cambodian authorities issued a letter in response to the programme, confirming Kuong Li as the owner of the Huang Le compound but dismissing the allegations as groundless.


The letter said an investigation led by the Department of Anti-Commercial Gambling Crime found no sign of forced captivity or torture, claiming the documentary did not reflect the authorities' utmost efforts to prevent human trafficking.


Kuong Li also rejected the allegations in interviews with Cambodian media.


In June 2023, he was granted the title 'Neak Oknha', one of Cambodia's highest royal honorifics.


While Li remains in pre-trial detention, investigations continue into wider networks linked to organized online fraud. Cambodian courts reportedly handled 37 major cases between 2025 and mid-January 2026, leading to numerous convictions.


The United Nations estimates hundreds of thousands have been trafficked to South East Asia for forced labor in scam operations. Recent actions across the region indicate a crackdown on such illicit activities, following international pressure.