The Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized Rs 90 crore from cryptocurrency wallets of exchanges including Binance, ZebPay, and WazirX on Tuesday, as part of a money laundering investigation linked to an online gaming app ‘E-Nugget’.
The scam app, posing as a gaming platform, promised high returns to users. An FIR at Kolkata’s Park Street Police Station led to the ED case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The app’s facade crumbled after investments were made, leaving investors stranded.
The ED exposed the app’s illegal activities in 2022, revealing that some of the illicit gains were invested in digital assets. Around 2,500 dummy bank accounts were identified. The agency froze nearly Rs 90 crore in 70 accounts linked to the scam after gathering information from Binance and other exchanges.
Two people, Aamir Khan and Romen Agarwal, were arrested and a charge sheet was filed. The agency seized, attached or froze a total of Rs163 crore worth of assets in this case, including cash, cryptocurrencies, bank account balances, and offices.