The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized its biggest-ever cryptocurrency worth ₹1,646 crore as part of a “mega” money laundering investigation into a fraud investment scheme where several depositors were duped in the name of securities investment. According to news agency PTI, funds related to “fraudulent” and unregistered offering and sale of securities in the form of investments through a ‘BitConnect lending program’ were seized.
The Ahmedabad office of the federal probe agency seized ₹13.50 lakh in cash, an SUV and several digital devices after concluding a fresh round of searches on Saturday, February 15. The ED case, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from an FIR of the Surat Police crime branch, which said the alleged fraud occurred between November 2016 and January 2018.
