Mumbai ED Raids: Targets Ponzi Scheme Linked To Dubai-Based Businessman Vinod Khute

Raids and search operations were conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday at several places in Maharashtra, including Pune, Nashik, and Kolhapur, in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to Ponzi schemes and illegal forex trading platforms valued at ₹100 crores, allegedly operated by businessman Vinod Tukaram Khute, his family members, and associates from Dubai, as reported by Hindustan Times.

According to a press release by the probe agency, cash, bank funds, fixed deposits, and jewellery worth ₹5 crores were seized and subsequently frozen, along with incriminating documents and digital devices.

Ponzi Scheme Linked To Dubai-Based Businessman Vinod Khute

An FIR was lodged in this case in October 2023 at Pune's Bharti Vidyapeeth police station against Vinod Khute, Santosh Khute, Mangesh Khute, Kiran Pitamber, Ajinkya Badadhe, and others over charges of duping and cheating people through Ponzi or multi-marketing schemes and forex trading platforms promising significant returns and collecting over ₹100 crores, as reported by Hindustan Times.

The press statement revealed that Vinod Khute, suspected to be in Dubai and considered the 'mastermind' of the illicit investment scam, operated platforms like VIPS Group of Companies, Global Affiliate Business, Kana Capital, Real Gold Capital, and Phoenix FX.

"The search operations uncovered a network of distributors enticing and luring the common public into investing in bogus, illicit schemes, illegal trading, and Vinod Khute's activities. Funds were collected through various bogus and shell entities that were layered into a complex web of transactions, ultimately resulting in the withdrawal of proceeds into cash and then siphoning off to Dubai through conversion to crypto and virtual assets or Hawala channels," added the ED.

Previous actions by the probe agency included the issuance of three provisional attachment orders, resulting in the attachment of various bank balances and immovable properties of Vinod Khute and his relatives in India and Dubai, amounting to ₹70.86 crores, as per media reports.

Meanwhile, assets worth ₹97.79 crores belonging to businessman Raj Kundra, including a Juhu flat in Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty's name, were provisionally attached in a money-laundering probe linked to a ₹6,600-crore bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme.

ED sources indicated that Kundra allegedly received 285 bitcoins, valued at around ₹150 crores, from the deceased mastermind Amit Bhardwaj for a failed Bitcoin mining project in Ukraine.