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ED attaches assets worth ₹131 crore in Spain including a yacht in OctaFX probe
ED’s probe stems from a case by the Pune Police against several individuals on charges of defrauding investors by falsely promising high returns through the OctaFX forex-trading platform
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a luxury yacht, two houses and other assets worth ₹131 crore in Spain under the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA) in its probe against a fraud forex-trading platform - OctaFX - that allegedly cheated numerous investors, agency said on Thursday.
“These assets belong to Pavel Prozorov, the mastermind behind OctaFX,” the agency said in a statement.
“A provisional attachment order has been issued under the PMLA to attach a luxury yacht, a minijet boat, a costly car and two residential properties in Spain. These are worth ₹131.45 crore,” the ED said.
The yacht, named ‘Cherry’, is an Italian-model commercial vessel cruising in the western Mediterranean, it added.
ED’s probe stems from a case by the Pune Police (Shivaji Nagar police station) against several individuals on charges of defrauding investors by falsely promising high returns through the OctaFX forex-trading platform.
OctaFX, the ED said, is an unauthorised forex broker promoted via the Indian Premiere League (IPL) cricket tournament, social media and celebrities, and it laundered funds by collecting investors’ money through mule accounts in the names of fake e-commerce firms.
“These shell (bogus) firms, with dummy directors and manipulated KYCs, accessed payment gateways posing as legitimate merchants. It was detected that funds were routed through unauthorised payment aggregators and escrow accounts, adding layers to obscure ownership and the transaction purpose,” the agency said.
OctaFX deliberately changed its login URLs and web addresses to obscure its fraudulent operations from investors. The platform manipulated trades to cause significant investor losses while siphoning funds into e-wallets and accounts of fictitious entities, it added.
Also Read: Russian national handled OctaFX global forex operations: ED
The agency statement further said that the platform is suspected to have generated proceeds of crime worth ₹800 crore from its operations in India in just nine months.
The agency suspects that funds cheated from the investors were siphoned out of India in the guise of fake import of services to entities controlled by Prozorov in countries like Spain, Estonia, Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE and the UK.
It had earlier attached assets worth ₹296 crore, including 19 properties in Spain owned by Prozorov. It has filed two chargesheets in the case till now, naming OctaFX and 54 other entities as accused.
Reacting to the developments, OctaFX released a statement.
“As a broker aiming to educate traders and raise their financial awareness, Octa strongly denies any allegations of making false promises of high returns, quick riches, or guaranteed profits. We also don’t engage in any practices that disadvantage traders. Instead, we consistently emphasise that Forex trading requires a knowledgeable and conscious approach. To support our clients in adapting this approach and making informed decisions, we provide comprehensive educational resources, which are publicly available on our website, YouTube channel, and app”, the statement said.
“In our global operations, we are guided by the interests of our clients while implementing and developing settlement infrastructure. Like most global brokers, we work with various payment systems and service providers. While we integrate these providers for the convenience of our users, it’s important to highlight that we do not control or interfere with their interactions with end-users”, it added.
“We strongly reject any claims that we mask payment gateway identities. URLs used in our payment integrations are part of the standard technical setup used by payment service providers, and usually, we are not involved in their construction. Based on the warranties of payment service providers, it is in line with applicable regulations. We aim to ensure that once customers select a payment method, they are redirected to the provider’s official payment page, where their identity is clearly visible. The process is straightforward and follows typical industry practices”, the statement said.
