Enforcement Directorate of India arrests crypto trader in Rs 640 crore scam

Two chartered accountants and a cryptocurrency trader have been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India’s premier financial crime investigation agency, for their alleged involvement in a cyber fraud case amounting to ₹640 crore. According to officials, the scam was allegedly carried out through speculating, part-time jobs, and phishing scams.

ED officials added that the accused have been identified as CAs Ajay Yadav and Vipin Yadav, and a cryptocurrency trader Jitendra Kaswan, who were subsequently arrested during the investigation.

During the search operations, an amount of ₹47 lakh undisclosed cash was found, along with various incriminating documents, checkbooks, ATM cards, PAN Cards, digital signatures, and trust wallets that were were recovered and seized by the ED agents. As reported by The Hindu newspaper,  ₹1.36 crore cryptocurrency (USDT) has been captured from private wallets of the accused crypto trader. Even various bank accounts belonging to the accused persons also have been frozen. 

The inquiry for money laundering was done after two FIRs were filed by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, as per ED. The public money was “siphoned off” by layering scammed funds through more than 5,000 “mule” Indian bank accounts which were later uploaded on the UAE-based payment platform PYYPL.