BitConnect founder seems to be in trouble. Indian authorities are currently looking into Satish Kumbhani, the creator of the bitcoin investment website BitConnect, for the multi-million dollar fraud.
According to reports, Kondhwa Budruk, a lawyer from Pune, reported the incident to the cybercrime police on August 16.
As per the initial information report (FIR), the lawyer allegedly lost close to 220 bitcoins, which are roughly worth $5.14 million on the open market. Kumbhani (36) and six other people have been named by the attorney. According to the report, no arrests have reportedly been made thus far.
BitConnect founder was earlier charged with Ponzi scheme allegations
The BitConnect founder was charged by a federal jury in San Diego earlier in February on charges of running a Ponzi scheme. According to this, the founder was discovered to have stolen up to $2.4 billion from later investors by using their money to pay off early investors.
The FIR claims that the complainant in this instance was defrauded of both his initial investment of 54 bitcoins and the returns of 166 bitcoins, which he was reportedly compelled to reinvest in the sites between 2016 and June 2021. Kumbhani and his friends reportedly defrauded investors in a virtual currency scheme, according to senior police inspector DS Hake.
The report was released a few days after Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s finance minister, expressed new worries about investing in virtual assets. “The government has issued an alert. Sitharaman cautioned the general public and startup business owners, “I think all of us will have to express our ideas and act with a little caution on this.
Her remarks also follow an ongoing investigation in which the Indian Enforcement Directorate (ED) froze the bank account of one of the directors of Zanmai Lab Private Ltd, the company that runs the Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, and blocked bank assets worth approximately $46 million that belonged to the troubled crypto exchange Vauld.
