India

The U.S. SEC has sued individuals and companies based in California, India, and Hong Kong for allegedly perpetrating a $2 billion crypto fraud known as BitConnect.

Complaint alleging a securities fraud "that ultimately succeeded in obtaining more than 325,000 Bitcoin, or approximately $2 billion, from investors worldwide" in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. BitConnect, described as "an unincorporated organization"; Satish Kumbhani, described as a citizen and resident of India; Glenn Arcaro, described as a citizen of the United States residing in California, and Future Money Ltd., of Hong Kong, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint for more than $7 billion "brought by two victims of Defendants' massive financial fraud surrounding NMC Health Plc and its related entities" that was "exposed when an investigative market research firm, Muddy Waters Research LLC, released a report questioning the integrity of NMC's audited financials" in Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty and Neopharma LLC v. Bank of Baroda, of New York; Credit Europe Bank NV, of the Netherlands; Ernst & Young Global Limited, of England; Ernst & Young EMEIA Limited, of England; Prasanth Manghat, Promoth Manghat, Suresh Kumar Vadakke Kootala, and Suresh Kumar Nandiraju, all of India, at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Application by Nokia Technologies Oy, of Finland, to take discovery from Qualcomm Inc. "for use in patent infringement suits against Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd. and various subsidiaries and affiliates thereof, including OnePlus Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd." in Germany and India, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

News Release by the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office entitled "SFO enters into £103M DPA with Amec Foster Wheeler Energy Limited" regarding "the use of corrupt agents in the oil and gas sector" involving an alleged scheme involving Brazil, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia.

Judgment regarding allegations of bribery involving Brazil, India, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia in the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office v. Amec Foster Wheeler Energy Limited at Southwark Crown Court, in England.

Deferred Prosecution Agreement regarding allegations of bribery involving Brazil, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia in the United Kingdom's Serious Fraud Office v. Amec Foster Wheeler Energy Limited at Southwark Crown Court, in England.

Complaint "to resolve questions of actual controversy involving the relationship between India's wholly owned national airline, Air India, and India, and in particular, for a determination that Air India is the alter ego of India" in CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd., Devas Employees Mauritius Private Limited, and Telecom Devas Mauritius Limited v. Air India Ltd. at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging securities fraud in James K. Barbee v. Amira Nature Foods Ltd., described as a seller of "Basmati Indian specialty rice" that is domiciled in the British Virgin Islands and based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Karan A. Channa, described as a resident of Dubai, UAE; Bruce C. Wacha, described as a resident of Norwalk, Connecticut; Varun Sethi, described as a resident of Dubai, UAE, and Brian M. Speck, described as a resident of Somerville, New Jersey, at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Man Proceeding in England by Nicholas Wood, Colin Diss, and Michael Leeds, as the Foreign Representatives of Oceanroad Global Services Limited, which allegedly "took part in laundering the proceeds of a significant, complex, and multinational fraud believed to have been committed against SCB [Standard Chartered Bank] (and other banks) originating with one of its customers, Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery Limited" and, inter alia, involved activity in England, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the USA, filed at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Man Proceeding in England by Nicholas Wood, Colin Diss, and Michael Leeds, as the Foreign Representatives of Holdwave Trading Limited, which allegedly "took part in laundering the proceeds of a significant, complex, and multinational fraud believed to have been committed against SCB [Standard Chartered Bank] (and other banks) originating with one of its customers, Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery Limited" and, inter alia, involved activity in England, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the USA,, filed at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Criminal Complaint alleging fraud and money laundering in USA v. Rajpreet Kaur, Jasminder Singh, and Mandeep Singh, described as citizens of India residing in the USA, at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Complaint "to determine and resolve questions of actual controversy involving the relationship between India's wholly-owned national airline, Air India, and India, and in particular, whether Air India is the alter ego of India" and for "a money judgment adjudging that Air India is jointly and severally liable to satisfy the judgment Plaintiffs expect to be awarded against India based on a pending petition to confirm an arbitration award" for $1.2 billion in Cairn Energy Plc and Cairn UK Holdings Limited, both of Scotland v. Air India Ltd., of India, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Final Notice by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority that it has imposed a fine of £178,000 on Sapien Capital Limited for regulatory breaches. Editor's Note: Research by OffshoreAlert at Companies House for England and Wales showed that Sapien Capital Limited was incorporated on October 24th, 2007 and its directors and controlling persons are Ramesh Kumar Ahuja, a citizen of India, and Aditi Aggarwal, an Indian chartered accountant, while the company's website identifies its "Team" as Ramesh Kumar Ahuja, "CEO and Director"; Aditi Aggarwal, "Director", and Matthew Hill, "Head of Compliance and MLRO".

Application by Daniel Snyder, described as "a businessman and philanthropist best known for his ownership of the Washington Football Team", to take discovery from Bruce Allen, described as "the former President and General Manager of the Washington Football Team, previously known as the Washington Redskins", for use in legal proceedings in India alleging defamation, filed at the U. S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Petition to Confirm Foreign Arbitral Award in the amount of $135 million in Deutsche Telekom AG, of Germany v. The Republic of India at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The registration of investment fund Remus Horizons PCC Limited, which is part of a group that includes individuals and companies in or from Australia, England, Guernsey, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Texas, and the United Arab Emirates, has been suspended by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission less than five months after it was granted.

Chapter 11 Petition by Greensill Capital Inc., a Delaware-domiciled "financial services company" that "arranged factoring and reverse factoring programs for clients globally" and which is directly owned by Greensill Capital Management (UK) Limited, of the United Kingdom, and indirectly owned by Greensill Capital Pty Limited, of Australia, and is part of a group that includes companies in Australia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Germany, India, Isle of Man, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint for damages of at least $172 million alleging fraudulent transfers, breach of fiduciary duty, and unjust enrichment in VoIP Guardian Partners I LLC, described as "a telecom factoring company" v. VoIP Guardian LLC, of Delaware; Rodney Omanoff, of California; Omanoff America LLC, of Delaware; Omanoff America Telecom LLC, of Delaware; Contacts & Contracts Inc., of Delaware; Mudmonth LLC, of Nevada; Philipson International LLC, of Delaware; Richard Omanoff, Owl America Inc., of Delaware; Mark Proto, of California; Joseph Rahman, of New Jersey; Youssef Rahman, Zoom Telecom Inc., of Nevada; John O. Philipson, of California; DealDefenders LLC, of Delaware; Ikarim Business Services Ltd., of the United Kingdom; I Karim Business Services LLC, of Delaware; IKB Services Ltd., of the United Kingdom; IKBS LLC, of Delaware; Mohammed Shakeel Mughal, of England; Najd Technologies Limited, of Dubai; Indigo11 Services Limited, of the United Kingdom; Indigo 11 Services LLC, of Delaware; Nazmul Hoque, of England; Telacme Limited, of Hong Kong; Balaji Mahadevan, of India; Colin Bernard Eccles, of Ireland; LtdTel SL, of Spain; Inter-Switch Ltd., of Hong Kong; Vineet Singh Notwal, of Hong Kong; Shirley Sabia Therese van Kerkhove, of Hong Kong; Arco Telecom Limited, of Gibraltar; Tee Telecommunications Inc., of New Jersey; 2365 Azure LLC, of Florida, and Tarek Katis, of New Jersey, at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Complaint in Commercial Bank of Dubai PSC, of Dubai v. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, whom it was claimed in the complaint was described as "India's richest billionaire" by Forbes magazine "a little over a year ago" but whose "empire has collapsed in accounting frauds of astonishing scope" since then, at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Complaint alleging fraud involving cryptocurrencies in Rakesh Khatri, a citizen of the United States, individually and as assignee of Reshma Khatri, Abishek Raja, Amit Kushwaha, Anchit Singh, Arvind Singh Bajetha, Ashish Lal, Ashitosh Sampat Raje, Ashok Kumar, Bhagyesh Hanumante, Chakresh Jain, Dharmender Shera, Gagan Deep Joshi, Gaurav Chhabra, Girija Raman, Karthik Raman, Lalit Kumar, Lokesh Sharma, Mohamed Haneefa Kottayil, Mohit Malhotra, Mukesh Gupta, Navneet Bhalla, Nikhil Jadhav, Pritpal Singh, Raghavendra R. Athani, Sachin Chavhan, Sanchit Malik, Saurab Wadhera, Shyam Singh, Siddhant Jain, Vikash Bhagat, Yash Jain, Ismail Nadukkandyil, Aarjav Jain, Siddharth Jain, Sanjay Jain, Mayank Jain, Vivek Tiwari, Malthesha P, Shubham Gupta, Sandeep Grewal, Nitin Koshti, Abishek Chauhan, Amar Singh Chandel, Priyavardhini Venkatram, Ajay Singh, Rajbir, Moumita Das, Rajesh Mehra, P.C. Mahajan, Pooja Ahirwar, Albert Ahirwar, Rani Singh, Shyam Lal, Anjan Roy, Arvinder Pal Singh, Vipin Sahney, Arpit Jain, Mukul Gupta, Aman Singhal, Brijesh Soni, Mahesh Vittal Yadav, Aman Paharia, Sandeep Bhalla, Sanjay Ahlawat, Atul Bhalla, Deepak Kumar, Balkrishna Baburao Raje, Girija Silver, Gaurav Gupta, Skalyan, and Deepak Shukla, all citizens of India v. VariableTech Private Limited, d.b.a. Gain Bitcoin, of Singapore; Amaze Mining and Blockchain Research Ltd., of Hong Kong; GBMiners, Mineral Mining Limited Company, described as "a company located in the United Arab Emirates"; Sun & Sand Mining & Minerals Resource (UK) Limited, described as "a company located in England"; Coin Bank-Safe Bitcoin Wallet, ZebPay Exchange, a.k.a. Zebay, a.k.a. Zeb Pay, described as "a cryptocurrency exchange, virtual wallet, and/or wallet provider headquartered in Singapore with a registered office in Australia"; Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, and Hemant Bhope at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

Chapter 11 Petition by Stream TV Networks Inc., which "was founded in 2009 as a "new media" company to pursue new technologies that enhance user entertainment and communications experiences", at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Creditors include those from Bermuda, Dubai, England, France, Germany, Guernsey, India, Ireland, Jersey, in the Channel Islands; Italy, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Taiwan.

Judgment extending an injunction involving "three apartments in Trump Tower" in New York City in what the judge described as "a skirmish in what I suspect is a much larger dispute between two sides of the Hinduja family" in Ali Ganjaei, "as attorney in fact of Seapack Investment Ltd., and Seapack Investment Ltd., of the British Virgin Islands v. Sable Trust Ltd., Jose Guillermo Gonzalez Alvarez, Michael Kelleher, and Najib Ziazi at the British Virgin Islands High Court.

Petition to Confirm Foreign Arbitration Award totaling $1.2 billion in Cairn Energy Plc and Cairn UK Holdings Limited, described as Scottish companies that "invested and conducted commercial oil and natural gas exploration and production activities in India for over two decades, contributing over $3 billion to the Indian economy" v. The Republic of India at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Complaint alleging a $4.6 million fraud involving Personal Protection Equipment to protect against COVID-19 in Remcoda LLC v. Ridge Hill Trading (Pty) Ltd., of Melbourne, Australia; Ataraxia Capital Partners Pty Ltd., of Sri Lanka; De Raj Group AG, of Germany; Petrichor Capital SDN BHD, of Malaysia; Petrichor Capital Trading Limited, of the United Kingdom; Vaidyanathan Mulandram Nateshan, described as a resident of India; Gayathri Vaidyanathan, described as a resident of India; Menusha Gunawardhana, described as a resident of Sri Lanka, and Vincent Fletcher, described as a resident of the United Kingdom, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application by Daniel Snyder, described as "a businessman and philanthropist best known for his majority ownership of the Washington Football Team", to take discovery from Verizon Communications Inc. regarding "customer" John A. Moag, Jr., described as "the principal of Moag & Co. LLC, a boutique sports investment banking firm that was engaged by the minority owners of the Washington Football Team", for use in legal proceedings in India in which Snyder has alleged defamation for "a series of false and defamatory “news” articles ... accusing Petitioner of sexual misconduct, such as involvement in sex trafficking, and a purported affiliation with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein", filed at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Petition to Confirm Foreign Arbitral Award in CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd., Devas Employees Mauritius Private Limited, and Telcom Devas Mauritius Limited, all of Mauritius v. The Republic of India at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Application by Union Bank of India (UK) Ltd., of England, to take discovery from Wells Fargo Bank N.A. for use in legal proceedings in England and Wales against Badrinarayanan Kothandaraman, a.k.a. Badri Kasturi, described as a citizen of India, and Satyan Katsuri, described as "an Australian citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India", for "fraud and liability under personal guarantees" totaling $6 million involving EnviroMax Pellets Inc., of Delaware, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging "a massive racketeering scheme" in Saudi Prerogative Company, of Saudi Arabia v. Infosys Limited and Jyoti Pawar, both of India, at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Chapter 11 Petition in the matter of VTES Inc., of New York, NY; Savari Inc., of Santa Clara, CA, and Savari Systems Pvt. Ltd., of Bangalore, India, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application by First Monolith Inc. to take discovery from Citibank N.A., The Bank of New York Mellon, Société Générale, New York, HSBC Bank USA, N.A., BNP Paribas USA, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Barclays Bank PLC, Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas, Bank of Nova Scotia, UBS AG, Bank of America, N.A., Standard Chartered Bank US, Commerzbank AG US and The Clearing House Payments Company, LLC for use in a "contemplated proceeding" in Singapore "against Canwell Commerce Pte. Ltd." for suspected fraud, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application by Martin & Harris Private Limited, described as "an India-based pharmaceutical company that manufactures, imports, and distributes various pharmaceutical products throughout India", to take discovery from Merck & Co. Inc. for use in legal proceedings in India "against Organon India, Organon B.V. and Merck", filed at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Public Announcement by the Qatar Financial Centre that it has imposed a prohibition on Anilkumar Raghavan Pattani, who was described as "an Indian male".

Deferred Prosecution Agreement regarding an alleged bribery scheme involving India in USA v. Beam Suntory Inc. at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Criminal Information under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act involving India in USA v. Beam Suntory Inc. at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Public Notice by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission that it has suspended the "Global Business Licence" and "CIS Manager Licence" of Emerging India Fund Management Ltd. Editor's Note: Research by OffshoreAlert in the Corporate and Business Registration Department in Mauritius showed that Emerging India Fund Management Ltd. was incorporated on May 19th, 2008, its directors are Antish Bundhun and Ashis Teemulsingh Luchowa, and its secretary is Trident Trust Company (Mauritius) Limited.

Public Notice by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission that it has suspended the "Global Business Licence" and "authorisation to operate as a CIS and Expert Fund" of Emerging Markets Investment Fund IA. Editor's Note: Research by OffshoreAlert in the Corporate and Business Registration Department in Mauritius showed that Emerging Markets Investment Fund IA was incorporated on February 10th, 2015, its sole director is Sahjahan Ally Nauthoo, its sole shareholder is Emerging India Fund Management Ltd., and its "Management Company" and secretary is Trident Trust Company (Mauritius) Limited.

Complaint alleging "a technical support fraud scheme utilizing call centers based in India" in USA v. Michael Brian Cotter, of Los Angeles County, California, individually and d.b.a. Tech Live Connect, Premium Techie Support, Global Digital Concierge Pte. Ltd., NE Labs Inc., Sensei Ventures Inc., Kevisoft UK Ltd., and Kevisoft LLC; Global Digital Concierge Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, d.b.a. Tech Live Connect and Saburi TLC Worldwide Services Pvt Ltd.; NE Labs Inc., of Nevada; Sensei Ventures Inc., of Nevada; Kevisoft UK Ltd., of the United Kingdom, and Kevisoft LLC, of New York,  at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Application by Daniel Snyder, described as "a businessman and philanthropist best known for his majority ownership of the Washington Football Team", to take discovery from The Ardent Group LLC for use in legal proceedings in India regarding "several articles falsely accusing Petitioner of sexual misconduct, including sex trafficking and affiliation with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein", filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Emergency Cease and Desist Order for alleged fraud and the sale of unregistered securities involving "cryptocurrency trading investment programs" in Texas State Securities Board v. Forex Birds Ltd., Kumar Babu Gondesi, a citizen of India; Eric Balusek, a.k.a. Darwin Eric Balusek, a.k.a. Bitcoin Pope, all of England and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Pek Universe, of Australia.

First Amended Complaint alleging "self-dealing and fraud" in Gupta Associates LLC, of Delaware, individually and in the right of New Silk Advisors LP, described as a Cayman Islands-domiciled "private equity firm that invested in growth industries in the Indian sub-continent and other emerging economies in Asia" v. Parag Saxena, described as a resident of Harrison, NY, and New Silk Route PE-SPV LP, of the Cayman Islands, at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Westchester.

Petition to Quash Third Party Summons Issued to Citibank NA by the IRS regarding "India Income Tax Liabilities" and an allegation of "political harassment against the current Indian administration's political opposition" in Sabena Puri v. USA at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Application by Daniel Snyder, described as "the majority owner" of the Washington Football Team, to take discovery from Mary Ellen Blair and Comstock Holding Companies Inc. for use in legal proceedings in India regarding "flagrantly false statements about Petitioner, including but not limited to accusing Petitioner of sexual misconduct, such as involvement in sex trafficking, and a purported affiliation with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein", filed at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Application by Daniel Snyder, described as "the majority owner of the National Football League football team, the Washington Football Team", formerly known as the Washington Redskins, to take discovery from New Content Media Inc., d.b.a. MEA WorldWide, for use in a defamation complaint in India against Eleven Internet Services LLP, MEAWW, Anay Chowdhary, Nirnay Chowdhary, Prarthna Sakar, and Jyotsna Basotia, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Petition to Quash Third Party Summons issued to Citibank NA by the Internal Revenue Services regarding "India Tax Liabilities" in Sabena Puri, of India v. USA at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority has revoked the banking license of Hinduja Bank & Trust (Cayman) Ltd. for suspected insolvency, its Switzerland-based sole director, Gilbert Pfaeffli, not being "fit and proper", and other regulatory breaches

Judgment in Deepak Raswant, of New Delhi, India v. Centaur Ventures Ltd., The Centaur Group Limited, and Daniel James McGowan at Bermuda Supreme Court.

Application by Meril GmbH, of Germany, and Meril Life Sciences Private Limited, of India, to take discovery from Edwards Lifesciences Corp., Edwards Lifesciences LLC, and Edwards Lifesciences Pvt Inc., all of Delaware, for use in legal proceedings in Italy, France, and the United Kingdom against Meril by Edwards Lifesciences Corporation and its subsidiary Edwards Lifesciences Limited, filed at the U. S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

Approved Judgment regarding an appeal against a lower court's finding that there was "a prima facie case of conspiracy to defraud" in Vijay Mallya, as Appellant v. Government of India, as Respondent, and National Crime Agency, as Interested Party, at the High Court of Justice, in London.

Complaint in Liberty Highrise Pvt. Ltd., of India v. Praxis Energy Agents DMCC, of Dubai, and Praxis Energy Agents Pte Ltd., of Singapore, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.