The BitConnect Founder and suspect of a $2.4 billion Ponzi scheme has left India and efforts to find him could ultimately fail, according to U.S. prosecutors from the SEC.
BitConnect founder Satish Kumbhani has left his native India and moved to an unknown address in another country, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s attorney Richard Primoff.
«Since November, the commission has been consulting with that country’s financial regulatory authorities in an attempt to locate Kumbhani’s address. At present, however, Kumbhani’s location remains unknown,» Primoff said, adding that efforts to find him may potentially be unsuccessful.
Ponzi Scheme
According to U.S. prosecutors, Kumbhani founded BitConnect in 2016 and rolled out an alleged Ponzi scheme disguised as a proprietary software-based crypto lending program.
$2.4 billion in total would be raised with fresh funds used to pay earlier investors before shutting down in January 2018.
The indictment seeks forfeiture of the full $2.4 billion with Kumbhani being charged with wire fraud, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and three conspiracies to commit wire fraud, commodity price manipulation and international money laundering.
BitConnect’s top North America promoter Glenn Arcaro pleaded guilty last September and prosecutors said in November that they would sell $57 million in cryptocurrency seized from him.
