The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted raids and search operations at several places in Maharashtra, including Pune, Nashik, and Kolhapur, in a money-laundering probe linked to 100 crores worth of Ponzi schemes and illegal forex trading platforms allegedly operated by businessman Vinod Tukaram Khute, his family members, and associates from Dubai.
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As per the probe agency's press release, the ED seized cash, bank funds, fixed deposits, and jewellery worth ₹5 crore and froze them along with incriminating documents and digital devices.
The probe agency lodged an FIR in this case, in October 2023, at Pune's Bharti Vidyapeeth police station Vinod Khute, Santosh Khute, Mangesh Khute, Kiran Pitamber, Ajinkya Badadhe and others over the charges of duping and cheating people in the name of Ponzi or multi-marketing schemes and forex trading platforms that promised significant returns and collected over ₹100 crore.
Also Read: ED will attach assets worth ₹150 crore of businessman Raj Kundra
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: ED will attach assets worth ₹150 crore of businessman Raj Kundra
{{/usCountry}}According to the press statement, the probe has revealed that Vinod Khute, who is absconding and suspected to be in Dubai, is the ‘mastermind’ of the illicit investment scam carried out via his platforms like VIPS Group of Companies, Global Affiliate Business, Kana Capital, Real Gold Capital and Phoenix FX.
"The search operations unveiled a network of distributors enticing and luring the common public into investing in bogus, illicit schemes, illegal trading, and the activities of Vinod Khute. Funds are being collected through various bogus and shell entities that were layered into a complex web of transactions, ultimately resulting in the withdrawal of proceeds into cash and then siphoning off to Dubai by conversion to crypto and virtual assets or through Hawala channels," the ED added.
Earlier actions by the probe agency included the issuance of three provisional attachment orders, resulting in the attachment of various bank balances and immovable properties of Vinod Khute and his relatives in India and Dubai, amounting to ₹70.86 crore.
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Meanwhile, the probe agency has provisionally attached assets worth ₹97.79 crore belonging to businessman Raj Kundra, including a Juhu flat in Bollywood actor and Kundra's wife Shilpa Shetty’s name, in a money-laundering probe linked to a ₹6,600-crore bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme.
According to ED sources, Kundra allegedly received 285 bitcoins, valued at around ₹150 crore, from the deceased mastermind Amit Bhardwaj for a failed Bitcoin mining project in Ukraine.
(With inputs from ANI)