The ponzi consisted of several schemes, led by a Dr Amit Lakhanpal, CEO of Money Trade Coin Group and CMD of Flintstone Group. Officials said that Lakhanpal created a cryptocurrency called, ‘Money Trade Coin (MTC)’ which he heavily marketed to the wider Indian community in order to entice investors into other speculative deals.
An office in Orion Business Park belonging to the real estate development agency, Flintstone Group, has been reported to be ‘at the heart of the scam’, whereby its employees orchestrated a majority of these fraudulent scams; promising its unsuspecting investors “10 to 20 times returns in just four to six months” according to Times Of India reports. It’s also been alleged that some investors were even promised Caribbean citizenships, real estate and Swiss bank accounts in exchange for their investment.
The estimated amount of money acquired by this overall ponzi scheme is believed to be around 500 crore, which is equivalent to $6,699,450,000.
During the bust Thane police were able to capture and detain Taha Kazi, one of the Flintstone Group’s prime technical support staff, but are still searching for Lakhanpal and 4 other key members of the scam.
The ponzi was investigated by local authorities following a complaint filed by Delhi businessman, Pravin Agarwal, after receiving no payouts from the company. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abhishek Trimukhe stated,
“We have registered the offence at Chitalsar police station. The accused were trading a cryptocurrency, called Money Trade Coin, and duped several people.”
Since then, the police have now formally issued a “case of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and other relevant sections of IPC, besides Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, 1999, and also under the Information Technology Act”.
While it still remains unknown how far this ponzi scheme has affected the region, police report that a second raid will now take place at another office in Kailas Industrial Park, Vikhroli.
Following this bust, many are now believing this scam is part of a much bigger ponzi operating out of Dubai. It has been recently reported that Lakhanpal has already partnered up with the Private office of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Obaid Al Maktoum to form ‘Al Kasir Group’, a new Dubai-based diamond-backed crypto startup.
It aims to create blockchain assets backed by precious stones, which can be traded across an in-house exchange. Rather worryingly, the Al Kasir Group has already launched its ‘Pre Initial Blockchain Asset Offering’ via the Al Kasir Group portal, which is attracting investment. Whether the claims that this is indeed the mother ponzi to the recent racket, remains to be seen.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
