Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 261 crore under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a Ponzi scheme case in Hyderabad, an official statement said here on Saturday.
The attached assets include residential plots, agricultural lands, house buildings belonging to the two accused Directors Radhe shyam and Bansilal of Future Maker Life Care Private limited,their family members and other associates.
The assets are situated in Hisar, Adampur, Kulam, Delhi and Chandigarh along with balances lying in the bank accounts of the company, its two Directors and their associates, the ED said.
The move comes after the registration of FIRs by the Telangana State Police in March this year against Future Maker Life Care Private Limited and its Directors for cheating common public by propagating a false theme of “A Life Turning Opportunity to earn income 20,000 to 10 lakhs per month” and inviting innocent public to become members of their ‘Ponzi Pyramid Scheme’ in the guise of direct selling multi-level marketing by selling worthless products like suit length and edible products.
They extensively advertised their commission model in which very high commissions were paid for enrollment of new members in the down links of the pyramid, the probing agency officials said. Investigation revealed that funds were fraudulently collected from the subscribers as deposit towards membership in the scheme through a chain of agents spread across India.
“These deposits collected through the schemes were illegally diverted into the personal accounts of the Directors, their family members and other associates, funds were diverted to other shell companies incorporated by the two Directors” the probe agency said.
Primary objective of the promoters of the company is to lure the gullible public with promises of huge commissions and with dreams of becoming rich without much effort quickly,the agency revealed.
They also cheated the public by falsely claiming that their fraud pyramid scheme was a legitimate direct selling network scheme by introducing sub-standard products like cheap suit lengths and other supplements.
Investigations conducted so far revealed that the accused have fraudulently collected around Rs 2,950 crore from over lakh of members and the same has been identified as the proceeds of crime, the probe agency said.
“So far,16 immovable properties purchased at a cost of Rs 9.08 crore which were derived from the proceeds of crime and along with Bank balances amounting to Rs 252 crore lying in 34 accounts maintained in the name of company, its subsidiaries, two Directors, their family members and other associates are identified and attached under PMLA”, the ED said. (UNI)
