The Fight of My Life: Escaping Scam City | BONUS | FIGHTING BACK
Podcast: The Fight of My Life
Host: Rich Thompson (Cadence Productions)
Date: October 30, 2025
Overview:
This bonus episode of The Fight of My Life delivers an urgent and hopeful update on the global response to Southeast Asia’s online scam compounds, focusing especially on Cambodia’s role in industrial-scale cybercrime and human trafficking. Host Rich Thompson revisits the backlash to the podcast’s investigation, then guides listeners through a series of extraordinary legal and political moves—especially by the US and UK—to fight back against the syndicates and the governments abetting them. Featuring campaigner Bill Browder and series contributor Jake Sims, the episode highlights landmark cases, new legislation, and extraordinary asset seizures that promise to alter the global fight against transnational organized crime.
Main Discussion Points & Insights
1. Backlash and Denial from Cambodian Authorities
- Rich Thompson opens by describing the Cambodian government's outraged response to the recent investigative report by producer Jake Sims.
- “The Ministry of Interior accused the report of being exaggerated, unprofessional and unsubstantiated... based on hallucinations and imagination... It's next level gaslighting.” [01:12]
- Despite official denials and threats, a shift is occurring as foreign governments take notice and begin to target scam syndicates directly.
2. The Magnitsky Act: A Game-Changer in Human Rights Accountability
- Deep Dive into Origins:
- The episode connects Cambodian developments with the story of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian whistleblower whose murder led to new forms of targeted sanctions.
- Bill Browder:
- “My name is Bill Browder. I'm the head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign... it's become my full time life mission to go after the people who killed [Sergei], to make sure they face justice.” [05:12]
- Transformative Effect:
- The Magnitsky Act, first adopted by the US (2012), targets individual perpetrators of human rights abuses with visa bans and asset freezes.
- Rich Thompson:
- “It was like turning a shotgun into a sniper rifle... It gave the world a new way to go after those who'd always been untouchable.” [06:11]
- The legislation has since spread to 35 countries, providing a model for targeting individuals beyond borders.
3. US Government Action: Sanctions Break New Ground
- September 8, 2025:
- US Treasury's OFAC sanctions a network of Cambodia-based scam compounds, directly naming notorious actors.
- “Halfway down the page, was KB Hotel co. Ltd. Aka Kaibo. Kaibo, of course, being the scamming compound Micah was sold to after leaving DV. It was designated by OFAC as a casino turned criminal compound.” [09:58]
- While some big players remain untouched, the move is seen as a significant step forward.
- Jake Sims:
- “The need for accountability to be injected into these spaces where [it] just doesn't exist... sanctions is the first and lowest hanging fruit way and opportunity to do that.” [10:51]
4. Legislative Momentum: New US Bill Targets Scam Syndicates
- September 18, 2025:
- The Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act is introduced, calling for a coordinated national strategy, new funding, and targeted sanctions.
- Representative Shreve (Sponsor): [11:43]
- “This is not just consumer fraud, it's organized crime, it's counter to national security and human rights all rolled into one.”
5. Global Recognition: Cambodia Named State Sponsor of Human Trafficking
- September 19, 2025:
- The US State Department TIP Report accuses Cambodian government officials of active complicity in forced scamming.
- “There was a bombshell inside. Cambodia was listed, because of these scamming compounds, as one of the world's 13 state sponsors of human trafficking.” [12:22]
- Jake Sims:
- “The US government is starting for the first time to call a spade a spade...with an authentic lens to what is actually happening on the ground.” [13:44]
6. The Power of Storytelling as a Weapon for Change
- Rich Thompson and Bill Browder reflect on the role of individual testimony and humanizing victims in driving political will.
- Bill Browder:
- “All I had was a story... It's very hard for anybody who hears a story like that to do nothing.” [15:12]
- Direct, personal stories are more effective than statistics in moving policymakers and the public.
- Bill Browder:
7. The Biggest Strike Yet: Historic Asset Seizure
- October 14, 2025:
- US and UK governments sanction Chun Jet (Chinese-born, Cambodian, and British national) and his Prince Holding Group, freezing $15 billion in Bitcoin—allegedly the largest criminal asset seizure in human history.
- Rich Thompson:
- “Just to put that into perspective, this was the largest criminal asset seizure in human history.” [17:30]
- Details on the scale of Chun’s frozen assets: luxury London properties, yachts, jets, artwork—including a Picasso.
- Jake Sims:
- “We've never... had a government who took this much exploitative, predatory profit from a criminal actor.” [18:44]
- Jake Sims:
- The action signals a concrete shift in international resolve.
8. Sustained Action—Not Just One-Off Victories
- Jake Sims warns against complacency:
- “One set of aggressive sanctions isn't going to do it... Like, yes, this is important and we've crippled a bad actor. But there are an entire... demographic of people like Chinza... using that influence to protect criminal industries.” [22:20]
- Real change requires ongoing pressure, coordinated global action, and public vigilance.
9. Speaking Out: Truth Telling as Defiance
- Bill Browder encourages everyone to expose wrongdoing:
- “The bad guys. Their main tool is creating fear... if they are made public, then the world can respond... expose evil in whatever format they can. Because that's how things change.” [24:12]
- Rich Thompson:
- “When evil thrives in silence, the simplest act of truth telling can become an act of defiance. And sometimes it's the spark that changes everything.” [25:09]
10. Looking Forward: A Global Awakening
- The team announces that the next season will shift to new regions and stories, as the fight broadens.
- Jake Sims (closing):
- “The world is starting to wake up and to act accordingly. And ultimately, this is a too rare reminder that truth, when spoken persistently enough, can still move power.” [26:16]
Notable Quotes & Moments
- “It's next level gaslighting.” — Rich Thompson [01:19]
- "He was 37 years old. He left a wife and two children..." — Bill Browder on Sergei Magnitsky [05:12]
- “It was like turning a shotgun into a sniper rifle.” — Rich Thompson, on the Magnitsky Act [06:11]
- “Sanctions... is the first and lowest hanging fruit way and opportunity to [inject accountability].” — Jake Sims [10:51]
- “This is not just consumer fraud, it's organized crime, it's counter to national security and human rights all rolled into one.” — Rep. Shreve [11:54]
- “All I had was a story... It's very hard for anybody who hears a story like that to do nothing.” — Bill Browder [15:12]
- “$15 billion in cryptocurrency... the largest criminal asset seizure in human history.” — Rich Thompson [17:30]
- “The voices of the most vulnerable and people with proximity to seats of power are starting to align.” — Jake Sims [20:27]
- "If what we take away from this is like, ah, the scam kingpin has fallen... we might as well not have done anything." — Jake Sims [22:20]
- “Expose evil in whatever format they can. Because that's how things change.” — Bill Browder [24:12]
- “Truth, when spoken persistently enough, can still move power.” — Jake Sims [26:16]
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 01:07: Cambodian government backlash and official denials
- 02:47: Introduction of Sergei Magnitsky case and connection to global response
- 05:12: Bill Browder’s personal mission and the birth of the Magnitsky Act
- 09:36: OFAC sanctions Cambodian scam entities
- 11:18: New US bill introduced: Dismantle Foreign Scam Syndicates Act
- 12:22: Cambodia officially named ‘state sponsor of human trafficking’
- 15:12: Bill Browder: The power of storytelling in human rights advocacy
- 17:30: $15 billion in assets seized from Chun Jet – largest in history
- 20:27: Aligning the voices of victims and policymakers
- 22:20: The necessity of continued pressure, not just one-off action
- 24:12: The imperative to speak out and expose evil
- 26:16: Closing message: global awakening and the persistent power of truth
Tone & Style
The episode balances journalistic urgency with personal conviction and survivor testimony. Both hosts and guests speak plainly, often passionately, mixing sobering facts with uplifting moments of historic progress. Storytelling, vulnerability, and moral clarity are central, with a call for continued activism and speaking truth to power.
For listeners who haven't tuned in, this episode provides a rich, dramatic account of breakthroughs in global justice, the challenges of combatting transnational crime, the persistent power of individual voices, and the work still to be done to dismantle “scam city” empires.