ED Arrests Armstrong Exchange Founder Over Alleged Online Betting Scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Armstrong Exchange founder Sagar Dash in connection with an alleged online gaming and betting scam.

In a statement, ED said that Dash was arrested on October 27 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. A special PMLA court in Mumbai has now remanded Dash to ED custody for three days.

The directorate said that the probe was initiated after three FIRs were filed in connection with online betting and cyber fraud involving All Panel Exchange (APX). Afterwards, the ED began probing the operations of APX and related financial transactions. 

The agency subsequently uncovered an alleged network of mule accounts and shell entities, which were used to route proceeds of crime worth hundreds of crores.

The agency alleged that Dash used fabricated documents and KYC details of an account, maintained on behalf of an entity called Armstrong Exchange Pvt Ltd and set up by Dash, with Nagarbhavi Credit Cooperative Society to open a cryptocurrency account. 

The ED further claimed that hundreds of crores were routed through the cooperative society’s bank account, with a substantial portion directly linked to proceeds generated through illegal gaming and betting platforms.

According to the ED, the proceeds of the crime were initially routed through multiple mule accounts maintained with Jubilee Hills Mercantile Cooperative Bank in Hyderabad. The money was then transferred to various shell entities, and significant amounts were moved to the aforementioned nodal account at Nagarbhavi Credit Cooperative Society in Bengaluru.

The ED said it is continuing its investigation in the matter to trace the alleged financial network and identify other entities involved in routing the proceeds of crime.

The latest arrest follows searches conducted by the ED across Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Surat and Mehsana in Gujarat, which resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents and the freezing of nearly ₹9 Cr in cash held across multiple bank accounts.

The agency had also arrested Ram U Ramdhani, CEO of Edsom Fintech Pvt Ltd, in connection with the probe.

The arrest is part of ED’s broader clampdown on money laundering. Just days ago, the directorate launched investigations into alleged FEMA violations involving crypto platforms Mudrex and Saber.money as well as decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol Instadapp and its associated platform, Fluid, over alleged unauthorised cross-border fund transfers worth more than ₹4,940 Cr.

Prior to this in June this year, the ED had also searched six premises linked to five platforms, namely Transak, Carret, Xpat, Onramp.money and Onmeta, over alleged unauthorised cross-border crypto transfers. 

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