Topic: Top cryptocurrency news: Indian Authorities Seek BitConnect Founder in a Probe I (Read 2 times)

Indian authorities are hunting for Satish Kumbhani, the founder of the crypto investing platform BitConnect, in connection with a Bitcoin (BTC) fraud.
An Indian media outlet reported on August 18 that Kumbhani is being sought after a complaint was filed against him for defrauding a man of almost 220 BTCs ($4.7 million) in the sprawling city of Pune.

A Pune-based lawyer filed a First Information Report (FIR) with the police, alleging that the accused defrauded him out of his initial investment of 54 Bitcoins. It is worth noting that authorities create the First Information Report filing after determining that the complaint lodged meets the basic requirements for an official investigation.

The lawyer, who requested anonymity, accused Kumbhani and six others of defrauding him of 166 BTC in returns that he reinvested on various platforms between 2016 and 2021.

Kumbhani's mounting legal woes

Notably, Kumbhani has been on the run since February after being charged in connection with a $2.4 billion Ponzi scheme involving US investors. In a legal filing, US officials indicated that Kumbhani had likely vanished from India and his whereabouts were unknown.

Kumbhani has most likely moved from India to an unknown address in another nation. The Commission has been in contact with that country's banking regulatory authorities since November in an attempt to locate Kumbhani's address. However, Kumbhani's current location is unknown, according to the filing.

It is worth noting that investors all across the world were urged to purchase BitConnect's open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitconnect Coin (BCC). They would then use a lending service to lend the tokens to Bitconnect. Bitconnect would then invest the funds in unique technological solutions designed to trade automatically and profitably.

However, authorities claim that the investments were not traded as promised and instead were used to compensate earlier investors.