U.k. Targets $68m In Properties Owned By China-born Man With Multiple Citizenships

British prosecutors are seeking to freeze about $68-million worth of London real estate purchased by Yuan Yihua, a man of Chinese origin who also holds citizenship from Cyprus, Cambodia and the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

According to documents from the U.K. land registry, Yuan Yihua purchased at least 14 properties across London between June 2021 and January 2025, including a $32-million mansion in the affluent St Johns Wood neighborhood.

Land registry records show that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) applied for freezing orders on Yuan Yihua’s properties on May 11. 

Neither the CPS nor the National Crime Agency replied to questions about why Yuan Yihua’s properties had been subjected to freeze order requests. 

The CPS last week launched a new “blueprint for tackling serious organised and economic crime,” which puts “asset recovery at the forefront of prosecution strategy.” The CPS said it had already recovered more than $707 million through "confiscation orders in the last five years.” 

One of the CPS targets has been the Prince Group, a Cambodian conglomerate alleged to have operated a network of scam centers partly staffed by human trafficking victims. In March U.K. authorities announced a new round of sanctions and asset freezes targeting individuals and entities allegedly linked to the Prince Group. 

Among those listed in the announcement was a man named Hu Xiaowei. OCCRP recently revealed that Hu Xiaowei goes by at least three different identities, and that he held at least $45-million worth of property in the U.K.

Flight records obtained by OCCRP show that Yuan Yihua visited the Pacific island nation of Palau onboard a private jet belonging to a company controlled by Hu Xiaowei. 

On that same flight with Yuan Yihua was a man named Yang Jian who has also purchased millions of dollars worth of London properties. The U.S. sanctioned Yang Jian along with Hu Xiaowei (under one of his aliases) for their alleged association with a Prince Group company involved in a real estate development in Palau.

A Prince Group spokesperson previously told OCCRP that the conglomerate is “innocent of the wild and unfounded accusations made by the U.S government, parroted in jurisdictions around the world.”

Yuan Yihua has not been sanctioned for links to Prince Group, and he is not listed as a director of any of its key corporate holding companies. He did not respond to requests for comment about the CPS requests to freeze his real estate.

Of the 14 properties subject to freezing order requests, nine were purchased by Yuan Yihua on a single day — June 23, 2021. Those nine units are all in the Legacy Building, a luxury development in London’s Nine Elms neighbourhood with a rooftop pool overlooking the U.S. embassy.

The transfer document for one of the units shows that the buyer was initially written in as a company called “Unstoppable Bird Limited.” The transfer document — obtained by Transparency International U.K. and shared with OCCRP — shows a line slashed across the name of the company, and Yuan Yihua’s name written in its place with a ballpoint pen.

According to U.K. corporate records, Unstoppable Bird Limited is controlled by a man named Qiu Wei Ren who was sanctioned in 2025 for his alleged association with the Prince Group. 

Land records show that Unstoppable Bird bought six other units at Legacy Building on the same day Yuan Yihua made his purchases.

Qiu Wei Ren did not respond to requests for comment regarding the alteration of the document, and whether he had any business relationship with Yuan Yihua.

Among Yuan Yihua’s targeted properties are a $14-million luxury home in a gated development in Weybridge, Surrey, and a mansion on Avenue Road, a street lined with some of London’s most expensive real estate. He bought the Avenue Road property in January 2025, and a visit to the site showed it is undergoing major renovations.

Fact-checking was provided by the OCCRP Fact-Checking Desk.