Look Out Circular issued against Hungarian national
Bhubaneswar: In an ongoing probe into Rs 1000 Crore crypto-ponzi scam, the Bureau of Immigration on request of Odisha EOW issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Hungarian national David Gez.
According to the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch, David Gez, a 32-year-old foreign national, who is the head of the cryptocurrency-based ponzi firm ‘STA Crypto token’, entered India with a tourist VISA two times in 2022-23.
The key accused had stayed in India for about 25 days traveling to various places like Odisha, Goa, Punjab, Jharkhand and Delhi.
The first time, he had travelled to India via the US and Turkey. He visited India a second time via Poland. He also visited Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak in Odisha during his visits.
David deleted his Instagram account after the case was registered in Odisha. However, his associates in India still releasing YouTube videos using his AI-generated photographs and voice, the EOW said in a release today.
The EOW said that it would report to the Ministry of External Affairs seeking action against David in the crypto-ponzi scam as he was indulged in business and promotion activities in the country with a tourist VISA which is not allowed as per the MEA rule.
Moreover, involvement of one more foreign national from the Netherlands in the scam is under the scanner.
So far, the EOW has arrested three accused persons including Gurtej Sigh Sidhu, the India head of STA Token, in the multicrore crypto-ponzi scam. Other two were Nirod Das, who is the Odisha head of the crypto-ponzi firm, and Ratnakar Palai, a key associate of Sidhu and propaganda head/social media influencer of STA. All three have been booked under sections 420/467/468/471/120-B of IPC and sections 4/5/6 of PCMS Act.
According to reports, the cryptocurrency-based ponzi scheme was active in Odisha especially in Bhadrak, Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Keonjhar districts following which the EOW conducted an inquiry. During investigation, it was found that the company with help of its members were using various propaganda tools to persuade people to join the scheme alluring them of high returns in a very short time.
During investigation, it was found that members have started using the STA token like a legal tender in their day-to-day business. It is estimated that more than 10,000 people from Odisha have already been members of this scheme. This scheme/scam has more than 2 lakh members (Pan India) mainly in the states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Assam.
