India: Police Arrest Four More Suspects in Alleged $14 Million Crypto Scam

Law enforcement in Mumbai, India have arrested four more suspects allegedly involved in a cryptocurrency scam that amassed an estimated 1 billion rupees (over $14 million). English-language daily media outlet The Times of India reported on the arrests on March 22.

Per the report, the police arrested Ashok Goyal Jaipuria, Asif Malpani, Baljit Singh Saini and Pradeep Arora from Delhi. Several of Goyal’s bank accounts have been reportedly frozen as well, since he is allegedly the head of the scheme. The Times of India also states that an unnamed Bollywood actor who reportedly attended promotional events of the scam will likely be questioned as well.

As Cointelegraph reported last month, Indian law enforcement first exposed the alleged scam and arrested the first four suspects in February, but did not arrest Goyal until recently. The first complaint that led to the prosecution was filed in Surat, a city in the Indian city of Gujarat, by an individual alleging to have been defrauded of the equivalent of nearly $150,000.

At the beginning of January, Indian police also arrested an associate of a separate group accused of conducting a crypto scam involving 5 billion rupees (about $71.6 million).

In another recently uncovered crypto scam, Morgan Rockcoons, also known as Morgan Rockwell, has pleaded guilty to two cryptocurrency-related charges in San Diego federal court. He reportedly admitted both to selling land he didn’t have for a crypto city project dubbed “Bitcointopia” and to operating a money transmitting business without a license.