The Enforcement Directorate (ED) provisionally attached movable and immovable assets valued at ₹3,43 crore in the Morris coin crypto currency case (a cheating case) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on Thursday.
The ED had filed a prosecution complaint against six persons who had been arraigned as accused in the case before the Special Court, PMLA, Kozhikode, in May 2022.
The attached assets include the balance in bank accounts of M/s Flywithme Mobile LLP (a partnership firm of Nishad K. and Hasif K.) and immovable property of Ansari P., an associate of Nishad K. The ED had initiated investigations on the basis of first information reports (FIR) registered by the Kerala Police in various police stations against Nishad and others on charge of cheating people on the pretext of giving high returns of 2-3% per day to them. During the course of the probe, it was revealed that Nishad had collected deposits from investors through his firms M/s Long Rich Global, M/s Long Rich Technologies, and M/s Morris Trading Solutions in the guise of initial coin offer for the launch of Morris coin crypto currency.
The money was redistributed to investors in the guise of profits under a ponzi scheme initially, and later payments to investors were stopped. The profits generated by them from the illegal activity were estimated at ₹54 crore, said an official release.
Earlier, the ED had conducted multiple searches across the country on the premises of Nishad and his associates and had seized around ₹21 lakh and incriminating documents. Abdul Gafoor, managing director of M/s Stoxglobal Brokers Pvt. Ltd., and an associate of Nishad were arrested in March 2022.
Movable and immovable properties pertaining to the firms and associates of Nishad worth around ₹50 crore had been provisionally attached, the ED said.
