Actor Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra’s Rs 98-cr assets are seized by the ED in a Bitcoin fraud

Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has apprehended assets valued at Rs 98 crore that belong to Raj Kundra, also known as Ripu Sudan Kundra, the husband of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.

Among other assets, the linked properties include a Pune home, a Juhu apartment in the actress’s name, and equity interests in Raj Kundra’s name. The case was related to a Bitcoin ponzi scheme that involved Rs 7,000 crore. Following many FIRs filed by the Delhi Police and the Maharashtra Police against Variable Tech Private Limited and others, including the late Amit, Ajay, Vivek, Simpy, and Mahender Bhardwaj, the assets were attached.

The aforementioned people are charged with accumulating money in the form of Bitcoins worth Rs 6,600 crore in 2017 while deceiving investors with promises of 10% monthly returns. The gathered Bitcoins were meant to be mined for cryptocurrency, with the investors expected to reap enormous profits.

The promoters are said to have deceived investors and hidden the illegally obtained Bitcoins in secret online wallets.

The ED claims that in exchange for Kundra setting up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine, Amit Bhardwaj—who is suspected of being the mastermind of the ponzi scheme—sent Kundra 285 Bitcoins. These cryptocurrency assets are now worth Rs 150 crore. These were acquired with the use of criminal money. The agency claims that Kundra still has the Bitcoins since the agreement fell through.