Mumbai5 minutes ago
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has fined Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra Rs. 98 crore assets have been seized. This includes Shilpa Shetty’s Juhu flat and bungalow and equity shares registered in the name of Raj Kundra. The case relates to money laundering in the 2002 Bitcoin Ponzi scheme scam. ED gave this information through a post on X (Twitter).
The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs lodged with Maharashtra Police and Delhi Police against Variable Tech Pvt Ltd and accused late Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpi Bhardwaj, Mahendra Bhardwaj and others.
In November 2023, Raj became emotional at the trailer launch of his debut film UT69.
This case is related to a Bitcoin Ponzi scheme
The investigating agency alleged that the accused collected huge amounts of money from people in the form of Bitcoin (worth Rs 6600 crore in 2017 alone) with a false promise of 10% return every month. These bitcoins were supposed to be used in bitcoin mining, but the promoters cheated investors and hid the illegally obtained bitcoins in online wallets.
The deal fell through and the investors were not given their benefits. It was claimed that Kundra received 285 bitcoins from Gain Bitcoin Ponzi mastermind and promoter Amit Bharadwaj to set up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. Which he still owns, with a current value of over Rs 150 crore. The first complaint in the case was filed on 11 June 2019 and the supplementary complaint was filed on 14 February 2024. After which the special PMLA court took action on this. Earlier, ED had seized assets worth Rs 69 crore.
Raj Kundra started wearing a mask after being released from jail. However, he stopped wearing the mask after the release of the film.
Raj Kundra has already gone to jail in the pornography case
Raj was arrested in July 2021 for creating and uploading obscene films on mobile apps. He got bail after about 2 months, then in 2022 he appealed to the CBI claiming his innocence. Raj told the public his entire story from the time of the allegations to the two months he spent in jail through the film ‘UT 69’ last year.