The Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India has tightened its grip on the OctaFX trading scandal, attaching properties and assets worth nearly ₹296 crore. Among the seized items: a luxury yacht, a mini jet boat, and two apartment buildings in Spain, all linked to Pavel Prozorov, a Russian national believed to be behind the entire operation.
Just three days ago, ED’s Mumbai team issued a fresh update. They’ve provisionally attached assets worth ₹131.45 crore under anti-money laundering laws. This came after searches last month across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Gurugram, where officials picked up documents and digital devices and found several layers of transactions that point to a large-scale laundering setup.
OctaFX, which marketed itself as a forex and crypto trading platform, had been running operations in India without any RBI approval. That alone makes their activity illegal under Indian law. But the bigger problem is what they did with the money.
According to the ED, they collected over ₹800 crore from Indian investors in less than a year, by promising high returns on forex trades. Most of that money didn’t even go into actual trading.
Instead, the funds were pushed through dummy e-commerce platforms and processed using a payment aggregator called Dinero Payment Services, which wasn’t authorized. Transactions were disguised as refunds, purchases, or vendor payouts, making it hard to track where the money went.
A chunk of the funds ended up in crypto. The ED’s investigation shows that the money was routed through Zanmai Labs Pvt Ltd, the same company that runs WazirX, a crypto exchange already under the scanner. From there, it was sent to Binance, an exchange based outside India.
This allowed the operators to convert investor funds into crypto and move them abroad, avoiding any regulatory oversight.
Prozorov, who lives in Spain, ran the show through companies based in Russia, Georgia, and Dubai. Indian employees were sent abroad to help operate the platform and target more users back home.
Two prosecution complaints have already been filed, and more arrests are likely. The ED is also looking into the role of chartered accountants and other intermediaries who may have helped set up fake companies or move money through the system.
OctaFX has denied any wrongdoing, saying it never promised guaranteed profits. But for thousands of investors, the damage has already been done, and the numbers keep growing.
Also Read: Is the WazirX Hack a Lie? Users’ Question Official Story
