ED arrests three accused in alleged crypto fraud investigation

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ED's crypto fraud investigation

Highlights

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Milan Garg, Sukhdev Thakur, and Abhishek Sharma under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 in the crypto fraud case.
The investigation revealed that investors were misled and large-scale funds were raised under a Ponzi scheme through fake platforms like Korvio, DGT, Hypenext, and A-Global.
ED has taken all three accused into 12-day custody, while the investigation found Sukhdev Thakur's 10% and Abhishek Sharma's 5% stake in real estate assets.

This article was translated from the original. Read the original version by our correspondent here.

Arrests and Scope of Investigation

Enforcement Directorate stated that the Shimla sub-zonal office arrested Milan Garg, Sukhdev Thakur, and Abhishek Sharma under Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The agency says the investigation began based on FIRs registered against Subhash Sharma and other alleged conspirators in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

According to the investigation, the accused used several fake investment platforms such as Korvio, DGT, Hypenext, and A-Global, luring investors with promises of high and assured returns to collect funds. ED states that this alleged crypto-based multi-level marketing scheme started in 2018, was later shifted to foreign servers, and operated through domains like korvio.io and voscrow.com.

The agency claims that public investors were allegedly misled to invest in Korvio Coin (KRO), token values were manipulated, and new tokens were introduced to run a Ponzi structure, where funds from new investors were used to pay old investors. Despite attempts to erase digital records and domain data, the recovered digital evidence revealed large-scale investor enrollments and fund flows.

Roles, Assets, and Further Action

According to ED, Milan Garg was one of the main operators of this alleged network and was chiefly responsible for the technical setup. The agency alleges he developed and controlled the Korvio/Voscrow, Hypenext, and A-Global platforms, managed crypto wallets, facilitated investor transfers between platforms, and oversaw the process of converting funds and cash into cryptocurrency.

The agency says Sukhdev Thakur and Abhishek Sharma were among the initial promoters and played a key role in attracting investors with promises of high returns. According to ED, both collected large amounts of cash from investors and routed it to Vijay Juneja, Masoom Juneja, and other co-accused, while the alleged mastermind Subhash Sharma is currently absconding.

The investigation also claims that proceeds from the alleged crime were used to acquire beneficial interests in real estate, including a 10% stake for Sukhdev Thakur and a 5% stake for Abhishek Sharma in Juneja Square. ED also said that Sukhdev Thakur routed funds through bank accounts and crypto wallets, while Abhishek Sharma's bank account showed significant transactions with persons and real estate projects linked to money laundering.

All three accused were already in judicial custody for the predicate offence, after which ED filed a production application in the PMLA court, Shimla. The court granted the agency 12 days' custody after their production, to further investigate the total proceeds of the alleged crime and their laundering. ED had earlier arrested Hem Raj and Masoom Juneja in the same case.

Our previous report detailed the ED's arrest of Ravi Shankar Tiwari under PMLA and the court granting 10 days' custody in the LUCC money laundering case linked to multi-state deposit schemes. The article also provided background on allegations of misappropriation of millions of investors' funds, suspicious bank transactions, and purchase of real estate from crime proceeds by LUCC, LJCC, and Option One Industries through promises of high returns.

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