ED seizes assets worth Rs. 37 crores in Amber Dalal's Mumbai ponzi scam case
Mumbai businessman Amber Dalal is accused of cheating 1,300 investors out of over Rs 600 crores
New Delhi, June 25
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided various locations in Mumbai in connection with the ongoing investigation into the investment fraud case against businessman Amber Dalal, who is accused of cheating 1,300 investors out of over Rs 600 crore.
Amber Dalal, a Chartered Accountant was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police and is presently under judicial custody.
The federal probe agency seized movable assets, including cash, frozen bank funds, and Demat account holdings totalling Rs 37 crore. Various documents and digital devices were also found during the searches, officials said.
As per the probe details, Dalal raised money from investors on the pretext that he invested the funds in nine commodities --gold, silver, crude oil, natural gas, zinc, lead, nickel, copper, and aluminium -- and traded in them. He made the investors believe that the invested money was safe and promised an annual return of 18 to 22 per cent. Using the same modus operandi, he raised money from investors in the UAE and the USA as well.
He who is the proprietor of Ritz Consultancy Service, allegedly took money from investors through a suspected Ponzi scheme by promising high returns. He then absconded with their money after giving them initial returns. Dalal raised more than Rs 600 crore from 1,300 investors.
Dalal then diverted the funds received in his company’s account to personal accounts, which were further routed to family members' accounts and used for creating assets. It was also found that the payments received from new investors were used to pay out the monthly returns to the old investors.
The search operations unveiled details of a network of stockbrokers and investment advisors who brought clients in exchange for commissions, added officials.
