ED registers fresh PMLA case against Ponzi scam accused

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday slapped fresh charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) against Anubhav Mittal, the prime accused in the ongoing ponzi scam case.

This follows an earlier case registered in February 2017 on the basis of an FIR by the Special Task Force (STF), Uttar Pradesh Police in the case of multi-level marketing and ponzi scheme running at Noida.

A group of persons and companies were found to be involved in the cheating of approximately 6.5 lakh investors to the tune of Rs. 3700 crores in the name of promotion through likes on the URL sent by them.

The investigation in the said case is being done expeditiously and as a result of that, simultaneous searches at five premises located at Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Noida belonging to offenders have been conducted by the ED's Lucknow zonal office.

The modus operandi of the accused according to their business scheme as alleged were that through their web portal they promoted a scheme whereby users would earn money by liking the webpage which was fictitiously shown associated to International Social Media Groups like Google and Facebook.

The accused also promoted four systematic investment plans offering various incentives depending upon the investment made by the user.

The multilevel marketing and ponzi schemes were run by M/s Ablaze Info Solutions Private Ltd, M/s Social Trade India Pvt Ltd, M/s 3W Digital Pvt Ltd, M/s Intmaart India Pvt Ltd., the brain child of Anubhav Mittal, Ayushi Agarwal and others.

A preliminary enquiry under provisions of PMLA revealed that incriminating documents relating to cheating of funds from public at large and documents pertaining to investments of cheated funds in valuable assets were concealed at various places.

The investigation resulted in recovery of incriminating documents revealing the offence of money laundering and possession of a huge sum of money.

The directorate had also demanded details of transactions from related banks which were used by the accused.

The directorate will seek custodial investigation of the accused arrested by the STF and there accomplices.

Further to secure the investments of the public, provisional attachment of all moveable and immoveable properties which are proceeds of crime or acquired by means of tainted money, will be attached under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.