The present PAO, worth Rs. 9.31 Crore, represents a further crackdown on the crime proceeds of the QFX group
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, August 31, 2025: Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Chandigarh Zonal Office, has issued a Provisional Attachment Order (PAO) on 26.08.2025 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 attaching assets worth Rs. 9.31 Crore belonging to accused persons, agents and their family members in the QFX/YFX/YORKERFX/BotBro scam case, being orchestrated by Navab alias Lavish Chaudhary in connivance with Rajendra Kumar Sood and others, as per a press release issued by the ED.
The attached assets comprise 45 immovable properties, including residential flats, plots, and agricultural land, spread across various states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, as well as movable assets in the form of bank balances.
Investigations have revealed that these properties were acquired during the scam period between 2019 and 2025 using Proceeds of Crime (POC) laundered through multiple bank accounts and routed in the names of close relatives and associates of the prime accused. The modus operandi detailed in the PAO illustrates a typical Ponzi-cum-MLM scheme where investor funds were diverted, layered through various accounts, and finally transferred into real estate and family assets.
The QFX Group attracted investors by promising high monthly returns (5–6%) via forex trading, though no actual trading took place. This POC were distributed across numerous bank accounts belonging to QFX group entities such as QFX Digital Services, QFX Education, Atlanture Sports and Media Pvt Ltd, among others, and then transferred from these accounts to the accounts of the accused, their family members and agents, such as Kewal Kishan, Dinesh Kumar Chopra, Chaman Lal, Sajid Ali, Rashid Ali etc.
With these layered funds, immovable properties were acquired in the names of wives, sons, and relatives of the accused to distance the tainted money from its source. The PAO comes in continuation of ED’s earlier action in this case on 11.02.2025 and 04.07.2025, when searches were conducted across various locations linked to the QFX Group of Companies, its promoters and agents.
During that operation, ED provisionally attached 194 mule bank accounts containing Rs. 394 Crore of POC, which were identified as part of the laundering network of QFX used for layering for POC. These searches and the follow-up investigation unearthed evidence showing funds raised through fraudulent investment schemes were diverted and reinvested in both movable and immovable assets to conceal their illicit origins. The case against the QFX Group stems from multiple FIRs registered across India in states such as Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana, under provisions of the IPC, BNS, and the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act. The present PAO, worth Rs. 9.31 Crore, therefore, represents a further crackdown on the crime proceeds of the group. Of this, Rs. 8.20 Crore relates to 45 immovable assets measuring more than 27 acres and Rs. 1.1 Crore to movable properties. This latest attachment significantly strengthens the enforcement action against the accused, building on the momentum of earlier searches and seizures, and marking progress in dismantling the financial operations of the scam.
