Guwahati 16 Aug: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Guwahati Zonal office on Friday provisionally attached assets worth Rs 29.25 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the case of a fraud investment website by the name of www.pearlvine.com running under the banner of “Pearlvine International”.
With this, the total attachment done by ED in this case so far is Rs 37.07 crore, out of which ED had already attached properties worth Rs 7.82 crore earlier in respect of properties of Parvesh Saroha.
“The attached assets of Rs 29.25 crore are in the form of 14 number of landed properties,” an official statement of ED here said.
Basis on an FIR registered by CID, Meghalaya Police, the ED initiated an investigation on the complaint by RBI, Shillong and the charge sheet was filed under various sections of IPC, 1860 against the persons involved in the scam perpetuated by Pearlvine International through the website www.pearlvine.com. Pearlvine International was an unrecognized entity that claimed itself to be US-based and provided several lucrative investment options. It collected a minimum of Rs.2250 as membership fees and ran a ponzi scheme in India during the period 2018 till March 2023.
During this period, it organized seminars all around the country soliciting membership and popularizing its benefits. At one point of time in 2022, Pearlvine International claimed a membership of 80 lakh members in India and abroad.
“ED investigation revealed that Neeraj Kumar Gupta was the man behind the entire scam and had purchased the domain www.pearlvine.com in November 2015 itself. He also conducted several seminars of Pearlvine International in India as well as in Thailand,” the ED statement said.
The ED said investigations also revealed that the website designing and hosting of www.pearlvine.com was done by one Parvesh Saroha. The Proceeds of Crime (POC) were mainly invested in landed properties.
