FinTelegram already published some in-depth reports on the Indian US$ 300 million crypto-scam around the Indian entrepreneur Amit BHARDWAJ who was imprisoned some weeks ago. In the aftermath of the scam’s collapse the Indian Enforcement Directorate (ED), the intelligence agency responsible for fighting economic crimes in India, is questioning several celebrities with regards to their involvement in the crypto-scam.
BHARDWAJ founded a series of crypto-ventures such as GainBitcoin, GBMiners, and MCAP, promising a 10 times return for investors. Needless to say, none of these irrational high-return promises panned out; instead, investors ended up losing money.
The first to fall under ED’s radar is the British businessman Raj KUNDRA (who does most of his business in India). KUNDRA was questioned for eight continuous hours by ED on Tuesday, local outlet Times of India reports. Another Indian news channel reported the questioning of Kundra subsequently led to more celebrities, who purportedly promoted GBMiners at various events in Dubai and Singapore. The most prominent name on the list is Sunny LEONE, the adult film star turned Bollywood actress.
Celebrities involved in crypto-scams is not an Indian phenomenon. In the U.S some fraudulent ICO teamed up with celebrities to promote their schemes. — Floyd Mayweather, DJ Khaled, and Steven Seagal have all been there already. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) even issued a warning against celebrity-backed ICOs last December, noting that such sponsored endorsements are illegal if the celebrity fails to disclose their relationship (or stake) with the cryptocurrency.
Our team found another interesting BHARDWAJ connection. Some whistleblower reported that the German crypto-MLM scheme NEXUS GLOBAL is connected with GBMiners allegedly using their crypto-mining resources. We have already launched our investigation and will continue to report our findings.