The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen assets worth Rs 170 crore across more than 30 bank accounts linked to shell companies in connection with an ongoing money laundering investigation involving QFX Trade Ltd. The action followed a series of raids conducted on February 11 in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana.
The ED’s Chandigarh Zonal Office carried out searches at multiple locations in Noida, Rohtak, Shamli, and Delhi as part of the investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The probe centers around QFX Trade Ltd, a company allegedly involved in running a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme disguised as forex trading, led by directors Raiender Sood, Vineet Kumar, Santosh Kumar, and mastermind Nawab Ali alias Lavish Chaudhary.
The investigation was initiated after Himachal Pradesh Police filed multiple FIRs against QFX Trade Ltd for defrauding investors through a fraudulent forex trading scheme. The ED stated that QFX and its directors operated an unregulated deposit scheme promising high returns to investors.
“QFX and its directors were running an MLM scheme under the guise of forex trading, using websites, apps, and social media advertisements to attract investors by offering high returns,” the ED said in a statement.
The company and its agents lured people to invest in the scheme, offering a 5% return per month. Following the FIR filed against QFX, the scheme was rebranded as YFX (Yorker Ex), continuing with the same deceptive practices.
Additionally, the ED found that Nawab Ali alias Lavish Chaudhary was controlling several fraudulent investment schemes like BotBro, TLC Coin, and Yorker FX, all marketed as forex trading apps and websites. These schemes were being promoted through events organized in India and Dubai.
The ED investigation further uncovered that the funds collected from investors were funneled through bank accounts of companies like Rax Box Private Limited, Capter Money Solutions Private Limited, and Tiger Digital Services Private Limited. These shell companies were found to be used for depositing public investments under the false promise of high returns from forex trading.
During the search operations, the ED froze bank balances of over 30 accounts totaling Rs 170 crore. The directors could not provide satisfactory explanations for the source of these funds. In addition to freezing bank accounts, the ED seized over Rs 90 lakh in cash from one of the agents’ premises, along with incriminating documents and digital devices.
The ED’s crackdown highlights the extent of the fraudulent operations, with more than one fraudulent investment scheme being run by the masterminds behind QFX and YFX.
