The Indian money laundering unit said it seized around 16.5 billion rupees ($ 190 million) in cryptography, some cash and a Lexus car during research on the collapse of Bitconnect cryptocurrency fraud.
Bitconnect, founded in 2016 by SáSH Kumbhani, collected billions of investors for a protocol that allegedly paid 10% in interest profits. The Ponzi scheme collapsed in 2018, and in 2023 a Judge of California ordered that $ 17 million be paid in restitution to the victims.
Kumbhani, an Indian citizen, was accused in the United States and is sought in India.
The firm’s statements to invest the money “were a farce, since the defendant knew that Bitconnect did not deploy investor funds to trade with his supposed negotiation bot, rather, they diverted the investors’ funds for their own benefit, and Their associates, for the benefit, for transferring those funds to digital wallet addresses controlled by them, “said the Control Directorate (ED) in a Saturday statement.
A “complex network of transactions” was used through “numerous cryptographic wallets” to hide the identities of the wallet owners.
“However, when tracking numerous web wallets and land intelligence collection, Ed was able to put the wallets and facilities where the digital devices containing such cryptographic currencies were available,” he said.
