New Delhi, Sep 26 (UNI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chandigarh Zonal Office, today announced the arrest of Uttar Pradesh-based agent Navab Hassan for his pivotal role in misleading innocent people and mobilizing public deposits to launder proceeds of crime through the QFX/YFX/BotBro/BotAlpha/Crossalpha/Minecrypto scam.
He was produced before a Special PMLA Court, which remanded him to nine days of ED custody.
The ED initiated its investigation based on multiple FIRs registered across Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam under various sections of the IPC, 1860, indicating the widespread nature of this pyramid scheme.
The accused allegedly promised monthly returns of 5-6 percent through robot/AI-bot-based forex trading, using payment aggregators and virtual currencies like USDT to collect funds.
After investments were made, investor IDs were deleted, payouts were stopped after a few months, and the proceeds of crime were diverted to the UAE for property purchases in the names of close associates of the main accused and for luxury spending.
The investigation revealed that Navab operated as a senior field leader with the rank of “Blue Diamond Executive” and had built a base of more than 10,000 investors.
He collected cash and funneled investments first through payment aggregators and later via USDT, while coordinating with Dubai-based masterminds Lavish Chaudhary (alias Nawab) and his associates.
Navab admitted that no real forex trading ever occurred on the platform, and investor dashboards displayed notional balances while new collections were used to service pending payouts.
He was a frequent traveler to the UAE to meet the absconding mastermind, Lavish Chaudhary, and was planning another trip to Dubai. He also participated in Zoom calls with Chaudhary to instill confidence in new investors.
A previous search at his residence in Shamli led to the recovery of Rs. 94.23 lakh in proceeds of crime generated by defrauding investors.
The ED’s action follows a series of crackdowns on operators involved in the QFX scam.
Top agent Harinder Pal Singh, arrested on September 17, 2025, and currently in custody, identified Navab as a leading agent in western Uttar Pradesh.
A provisional attachment order dated August 26, 2025, attached 45 immovable properties valued at Rs. 9.49 crore acquired by the accused, his family members, and associates.
Searches conducted on February 11 and July 4, 2025, resulted in the seizure and freezing of 185 bank accounts holding Rs. 391 crore in proceeds of crime across various shell entities.
This arrest under Section 19(1) of the PMLA, 2002, strengthens the ongoing crackdown to trace the complete trail of the proceeds of crime, identify remaining beneficiaries and fronts operating domestically and from Dubai, prevent further layering, and secure the illicit funds.
