ED freezes mule accounts worth ₹110 cr in PMLA case against Parimatch

The Cyprus-based betting platform is accused of duping investors with high-return promises, generating over ₹3,000 crore annually, and routing funds via mule accounts

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has frozen ₹110 crore kept in mule bank accounts in connection with a money laundering case against Parimatch, a Cyprus-based “illegal” online betting platform. The agency also seized at least 1,200 credit cards during searches on its Indian operations.

 

The platform, according to the ED, gained prominence through an “aggressive” marketing strategy, including sports sponsorships and celebrity endorsements. It is accused of cheating investors by luring them with high returns and generating over ₹3,000 crore in a year.

 

Surrogate advertising and foreign payments

 

In a statement, the ED said, “They also set up Indian entities to run surrogate advertisements under the names ‘Parimatch Sports’ and ‘Parimatch News’. Payments to these agencies were made via foreign inward remittances.”

 

Searches were carried out at 17 locations across Mumbai, Noida, Jaipur, Surat, Madurai, Kanpur, and Hyderabad. The case was registered on August 12 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), following an FIR filed by the cyber police station of Mumbai Police against the company’s website.

 

Alleged modus operandi

 

According to the ED, Parimatch routed funds from users through mule accounts using various strategies nationwide. In one instance, deposits into mule accounts were withdrawn in Tamil Nadu and handed to hawala operators, who recharged virtual wallets of a UK-based company. These wallets were then used to buy cryptocurrency under mule crypto accounts operated by Parimatch agents.

 

The agency said Parimatch engaged domestic money transfer (DMT) agents in western India. Mule accounts managed by these agents were also used to make payments via mule credit cards to Parimatch representatives.

 

Use of unlicensed payment companies

 

The ED alleged that Parimatch used payment companies whose applications for payment aggregator licences were rejected by the Reserve Bank of India. Operating as technology service providers, these companies offered their application programming interface (API) to facilitate fund transfers for the betting platform.

 

Funds received via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) were allegedly layered and disguised as e-commerce proceeds, chargebacks, vendor payments, and other transactions to conceal their origin.