Indian court denies bail application of key promoter in cryptocurrency scam involving 80,000 investors

According to The Crypto Times, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, India, rejected Abhishek Sharma's bail application. Sharma is one of the key promoters of a large-scale cryptocurrency MLM scam, which is suspected of defrauding over 80,000 investors across India, with estimated losses reaching 500 million rupees and a total investment pool of about 2 billion rupees.

The report states that the scam involved several fraudulent crypto platforms such as Korvio, Voscrow, DGT, Hypenext, and A-Global, with investors promised double returns. In the early stages of the project, small returns were paid to attract more participants, but all payments suddenly stopped on December 25, 2021. Subsequently, the promoters directed users to other platforms, ultimately failing to pay any returns.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had previously conducted searches at eight locations in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, freezing approximately 12 million rupees in lockers and bank deposits. Investigators stated that the funds in the case were laundered through real estate developers, shell companies, and family bank accounts, with some senior individuals involved having fled to Dubai.