Indian authorities have seized $11 million from British-Indian businessman Raj Kundra. He was part of an alleged bitcoin scam.
Seizure of bitcoin scammer
Under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the directorate on Thursday declared temporary seizure of both immovable property and personal belongings owned by Kundra. The man is the husband of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
An investigation had been launched M/s Variable Tech Pte Ltd, as well as individuals including Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj. The suspects had raised approximately $792 million worth of bitcoin from investors in 2017. However, they did this by misleading victims with guarantees of 10% monthly returns via bitcoin.
ED, Mumbai has provisionally attached immovable and movable properties worth Rs. 97.79 Crore belonging to Ripu Sudan Kundra aka Raj Kundra under the provisions of PMLA, 2002. The attached properties include Residential flat situated in Juhu presently in the name of Smt. Shilpa…
— ED (@dir_ed) April 18, 2024
During the investigation, the agency found that Kundra had received 285 bitcoin from Amit Bhardwaj, the creator of the Ponzi called ‘Gain Bitcoin’. The money was intended to set up a mining farm in Ukraine. Nothing came of this and the money ended up in Kundra’s possession. The statement states the following:
“The collected bitcoins would be used for bitcoin mining and investors would earn huge returns in crypto assets. But the promoters deceived the investors and the ill-gotten bitcoins were kept in obscure online wallets.”
Earlier, action had been taken in the same case. In January last year, Nikhil Mahajan was arrested, while Simpy Bhardwaj and Nitin Gaur were arrested in December. They are all still in judicial custody.
Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.nl/nieuws/11-miljoen-in-beslag-genomen-van-de-zakenman-in-bitcoin-scam
