Indian authorities confiscate $190 million in crypto assets from ”BitConnect investment scam”

Indian authorities have seized approximately $190 million worth of cryptocurrencies linked to the 2018 BitConnect fraud case.
On the 16th (local time), India's financial crimes investigation authority, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), announced that approximately $190 million worth of crypto assets had been seized during the course of its investigation into the global BitConnect fraud case.
According to local reports, the ED Ahmedabad branch said, "In connection with the BitConnect cryptocurrency fraud case, many depositors were victimized under the guise of securities investment.
"In the course of investigating the circumstances under which the cryptocurrencies were stolen, we seized crypto assets worth a total of Rs 164.6 billion (approximately $190 million)," the company said.
The ED has recently seized around Rs 1,35,000 in the course of seizure searches in Gujarat.
The confiscated property also belonged to individuals associated with BitConnect, including a 500,000-yen (approximately $15,582) smartphone, a sports utility vehicle (SUV), and electronic devices.
BitConnect, which launched in 2016, is alleged to have defrauded more than 4,000 investors from 95 countries out of approximately $2.4 billion before its collapse in 2018.
Satish Kumbani, founder of Bitconnect
Kumbhani was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in February 2022 and is a member of a global network of
They reportedly created a multi-tiered system to recruit investors and pay them referral fees to operate a Ponzi scheme.