Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra’s assets worth ₹98 crore, such as a flat in Mumbai, a bungalow in Pune and equity shares, were attached by the Enforcement Directorate on charges of laundering Bitcoin Ponzi scam money, the agency said on Thursday.
The agency said its Mumbai office has issued a provisional attachment order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach these properties worth ₹97.79 crore. While the residential flat in the plush area of Juhu, Mumbai, is in the name of Shilpa Shetty, the bungalow in Pune and equity shares are in the name of her husband Kundra, ED said in a statement.
The ED began its probe based on two FIRs registered separately by the polices of Mumbai and Delhi against Variable Tech Pte Ltd, the late Amit Bhardwaj, the mastermind and promoter of the Gain Bitcoin Ponzi scam, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj, and their agents.
It was alleged that they had collected huge amounts of funds through Bitcoins, estimated to be Rs 6,600 crore in 2017, from gullible public on false pretext of offering 10 per cent per month return in the form of virtual currency.
The ED alleged that the promoters cheated the investors and concealed the ill-gotten Bitcoins in obscure online wallets.
ED revealed that Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from Amit Bhardwaj for setting up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. Shetty’s husband Kundra still possesses those Bitcoins, which are presently valued at more than ₹150 crore, the ED pointed out. However, the Bollywood couple has denied their involvement in the case.
Prime accused Ajay Bhardwaj and Mahendra Bhardwaj of having assured investors that the amount collected would be used to mine bitcoins which would fetch instant and huge rewards. As per their modus operandi, for a few initial months, the scamsters paid profits on initial investments, but subsequently, they stopped after they failed to get new investors on board.