The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided a wallet in Binance crytpo exchange and froze 150.22 bitcoins amounting to Rs 22.82 crore under the money laundering act.
The probe agency’s raid was linked to the gaming app ‘E-nuggets’ case, with the search operation part of the ongoing probe into the app, said the ED in a tweet.
ED has carried out search operation on Wallet/User ID in Binance Crypto Exchange leading to freezing of 150.22 Bitcoins equivalent to Rs 22.82 Crore under PMLA, 2002, in respect to an investigation being conducted relating to the Mobile Gamming Application, namely E-nuggets.
— ED (@dir_ed) November 11, 2022
The E-nuggets app allegedly used crypto exchanges for money laundering.
In September, the enforcement agency acted on an FIR dated February 15, 2021, filed under various sections of IPC by Park Street Police Station, Kolkata Police, against one Aamir Khan.
Mr Khan was accused of defrauding the public via a mobile gaming application E-Nuggets.
“Further, after collecting the sizable amount of money from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said App was stopped on one pretext or the other. Thereafter, all data including profile information was wiped off from the said App servers,” the agency said.
In August, the ED froze the bank balance of Binance’s India-based partner, crypto trading platform WazirX, which was under investigation in relation to accusations of money laundering via crypto assets.
But subsequently in September, the crypto exchange said the country’s financial crime watchdog – the ED, had unfrozen its bank accounts allowing the company to continue banking operations.
The transactions between WazirX and Binance have been under the radar in the past.
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