The United States has announced sanctions on one of Cambodia’s most powerful politicians and business tycoons for his alleged deep involvement in the country’s rampant online scam industry.

Ly Yong Phat is one of the biggest fish in Cambodia to be implicated in the illegal trade, which robs victims around the world with often sophisticated trickery and enslaves workers, most of them poor foreigners, through violence and coercion.

He is a senator from the nation’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), a member of its central committee and an adviser to authoritarian former prime minister Hun Sen, who is now the Senate president after handing over the top job to his son, Hun Manet, last year.

Non-government organisations accuse Ly of leveraging his government positions to enrich himself and his family over decades with land grabs, environmental destruction and various legal and illegal business enterprises.

The US Treasury on Thursday (US time) also placed sanctions on his conglomerate, LYP Group, and the Garden City Hotel, Koh Kong Resort, Phnom Penh Hotel and O-Smach Resort.

Authorities raided O-Smach Casino on the border with Thailand in October 2022 and March 2024, rescuing foreign workers from China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

“Victims reported being lured to O-Smach Resort with false employment opportunities, having their phones and passports confiscated upon arrival, and being forced to work scam operations,” a Treasury statement said.

“People who called for help reported being beaten, abused with electric shocks, made to pay a hefty ransom, or threatened with being sold to other online scam gangs. There have been two reports of victims jumping to their deaths from buildings within O‑Smach Resort.”