India's Directorate of Enforcement Seizes $190M in BitConnect Fraud Case

BitConnect's founder, Satish Kumbhani, is wanted successful some India and the U.S.

Feb 17, 2025, 11:30 a.m. UTC

India's anti-money laundering portion said it seized astir 16.5 cardinal rupees ($190 million) worthy of crypto, immoderate currency and a Lexus car during investigations into the illness of the BitConnect cryptocurrency fraud.

BitConnect, founded successful 2016 by Satish Kumbhani, raised billions of dollars from investors for a protocol that purportedly paid retired 10% successful involvement earnings. The Ponzi strategy collapsed successful 2018, and successful 2023 a California justice ordered $17 cardinal successful restitution to beryllium paid to the victims.

Kumbhani, an Indian citizen, was indicted successful the U.S. and is wanted successful India.

The firm's claims to put the wealth "were a sham, arsenic the accused knew that BitConnect did not deploy capitalist funds for trading with its purported Trading Bot rather, they siphoned investors’ funds disconnected for their ain benefit, and their associates’ benefit, by transferring those funds to integer wallet addresses controlled by them," the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) said successful a Saturday statement.

A "complex web of transactions" done "numerous crypto wallets" was utilized to fell the identities of the wallets' owners.

"However, by tracking galore web wallets and gathering crushed intelligence, ED was capable to zero-in-on the wallets and the premises wherever the integer devices containing said crypto currencies were available," it said.

Camomile Shumba

Camomile Shumba is simply a CoinDesk regulatory newsman based successful the UK. Previously, Shumba interned astatine Business Insider and Bloomberg. Camomile has featured successful Harpers Bazaar, Red, the BBC, Black Ballad, Journalism.co.uk, Cryptopolitan.com and South West Londoner. Shumba studied politics, doctrine and economics arsenic a combined grade astatine the University of East Anglia earlier doing a postgraduate grade successful multimedia journalism. While she did her undergraduate grade she had an award-winning vigor amusement connected making a difference. She does not presently clasp worth successful immoderate integer currencies oregon projects.