The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against businessman Raj Kundra, husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, alleging that he illegally held 285 Bitcoins valued at Rs 150.47 crore. According to investigators, these Bitcoins were received from the late crypto scam mastermind Amit Bhardwaj, founder of GainBitcoin.
The case stems from FIRs registered by the Maharashtra and Delhi police against Variable Tech Private Limited and several individuals, including Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, and Mahender Bhardwaj. The group is accused of luring investors with promises of extraordinary returns through Bitcoin mining, only to defraud them and conceal the Bitcoins in secretive online wallets.
‘Illegally held 285 Bitcoins worth Rs 150 cr’
The ED stated that Kundra obtained Bitcoins from Amit Bhardwaj for the purpose of setting up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. Investors were promised high returns. However, the project never took off, and Kundra allegedly retained the cryptocurrency.
The chargesheet noted that his defence of acting merely as a mediator was “untenable” since the agreement was directly between him and the Bhardwaj family.
“Thus, it can be safely concluded that the agreement was actually between Raj Kundra and Amit Bhardwaj (his father, Mahender Bhardwaj) and the argument given by Kundra that he acted as a mere mediator is not tenable,” the chargesheet stated.
Investigators pointed out that Kundra was able to recall the exact number of Bitcoins he received in five separate tranches even after seven years. This means that he was the “actual beneficiary” rather than just a “mediator”.
The agency further alleged that since 2018, Kundra has failed to provide details of the wallet addresses to which the Bitcoins were transferred. He claimed that this information was lost when his iPhone X was damaged soon after his initial statement.
“On being asked to provide documentary evidence to prove his claim that 285 bitcoins were transferred by Amit Bhardwaj to Tom and not him, Kundra failed to provide any documentary evidence in this regard,” ED said.
ED also names Rajesh Satija
A “Term Sheet” agreement between him and Mahender Bhardwaj contradicts his defence. The chargesheet also names businessman Rajesh Satija as a co-accused.
The ED also claimed that Kundra carried out a “genuine” transaction with his wife, Shilpa Shetty, at prices far below market value to disguise the origins of funds obtained through criminal activity. He was further accused of layering the proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to project them as legitimate.