The Enforcement Agency of India (ED) recently raided the premises of VIPS Group and Global Affiliate Business in Pune and Ahmednagar, seizing its assets worth Rs 185.4 crore under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

The man behind them, it turns out, is Vinod Khute, who operates out of Dubai and controls the Business through a mobile app under the name Global Affiliate Business platform.

The companies were involved in an unauthorised multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme, collecting Rs 1.25 crore from various individuals and transferring the funds abroad through hawala channels, the department said.

The investigation revealed that Khute orchestrated various illegal transactions, cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet services through the VIPS Group company, and transferred the proceeds out of the country through hawala trading.

It was discovered that Global Affiliate Business was running an unauthorized MLM scheme where members who joined the scheme and referred other consumers/customers would receive commissions.

Through the scheme, a total of Rs 1.25 crore was raised from numerous investors. In addition, Global Affiliate Business was found to be promoting the business of Kana Capital, a brokerage service for forex, cryptocurrency and stock trading.

ED also found that Kana Capital worked with directors of VIPS Group to offer weekly training sessions to Global Affiliate Business clients to encourage them to invest in VIPSWALLET.

Vinod Khute recently launched M/s D Dhanashree Multi-State Co-op Credit Society Limited in Pune to attract investors with a fraudulent scheme offering 2 to 4 per cent monthly interest.

The investigation revealed that tens of millions of rupees were collected in cash from customers/investors and then channelled these proceeds abroad through hawala transactions and shell companies.

The ED investigation in India has revealed that more than Rs 1.25 crore was collected through bank channels and cash under the guise of interest/commission earning investments.