ED seized Raj Kundra’s assets worth Rs 97 crore in Bitcoin fraud case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized Shilpa Shetty’s husband and businessman Raj Kundra’s assets worth Rs 97.79 crore. ED took this action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a fraud case regarding Bitcoin Ponzi investment.

According to ED, the seized properties of Raj Kundra include a residential flat in Mumbai’s upmarket Juhu district. They also seized a residential home in Pune and equity shares in Raj Kundra’s name. Shilpa Shetty now owns a residential flat in the Juhu district.

शिल्पा शेट्टी के पति राज कुंद्रा की ED ने 97 करोड़ की संपत्ति ज़ब्त की

◆ ED ने उनके ख़िलाफ़ मनी लॉन्ड्रिंग के तहत कार्रवाई की है

Raj Kundra | #RajKundra | Shilpa Shetty | #ShilpaShetty | Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/6u3grRp4Xh
— News24 (@news24tvchannel) April 18, 2024

The most recent action taken by the ED against Kundra is related to the money laundering case based on multiple FIRs. Hence, Maharashtra Police and Delhi Police filed multiple FIRs against Tech Pte Ltd, Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, and several multilateral marketing (MLM) agents.

The FIRs stated accused people had obtained sufficient money from individuals with bogus guarantees of a 10% monthly return in Bitcoin’s form. The total amount for this was 6,600 crore in 2017.

According to a statement from ED, investors were expected to receive enormous returns on their cryptocurrency assets, and the gathered Bitcoins were intended to be used for Bitcoin mining.

Businessman Raj Kundra has come under the Enforcement Directorate (ED) radar and the probe agency has provisionally attached immovable and movable properties worth Rs 97.79 Crore belonging to him in a bitcoin Ponzi scam under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act… pic.twitter.com/utI1BgqbvP
— Mirror Now (@MirrorNow) April 18, 2024

Click here to read updates on Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra’s UT69 movie review

However, the accused deceived the investors and hid the illegally obtained Bitcoins in secret online wallets. Kundra contained 285 Bitcoins from Amit Bhardwaj in exchange for establishing for a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. Amit was the mastermind and promoter of the Gain Bitcoin Ponzi Scam.

Hence, these Bitcoins originated from the criminal prospects that Amit Bhardwaj obtained from unaware investors. Hence, ED seized Raj Kundra’s assets as he has 285 Bitcoins, currently worth more than Rs 150 crore.

Earlier ED conducted search operations and arrested multiple accusers for the Bitcoin fraud case. They arrested Simpy Bhardwaj, Nitin Gaur, and Nikhil Mahajan. However, they are still looking for primary suspects Ajay and Mahendra Bhardwaj.