Bhubaneswar: The Bureau Of Immigration has issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against David Gez, 32, a Hungarian national, who headed a company called STA (Solar Techno Alliance) Token involved in alleged Rs 1,000 crore pan-India cryptocurrency fraud.
The circular was issued on the request of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhubaneswar.
According to the EOW, Gez visited India twice on a tourist visa in 2022-23. During his 25 days stay, he travelled to various places, including Odisha, Goa, Punjab, Jharkhand and Delhi.He had travelled to India via USA the first time and Turkey and via Poland again.
In Odisha, Gez visited Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak and indulged in business/promotion activity which is not allowed as per the rule of the Ministry Of External Affairs (MEA). “EOW would report this fact to MEA for necessary action in addition to the legal action in the current case,” the release said.
He deactivated his Instagram and Facebook accounts after a case was registered by the EOW. However, his Indian associates are still issuing Youtube Videos using his AI-generated picture and voice, it added.
Sources further said that STA Token was trying to relaunch the company with a new identity to lure investors even as EOW started the legal process to issue a lookout circular against Gez. The involvement of second foreigner, a Dutch national, in this scam is also under scrutiny.
Also Read: Odisha EOW Busts India’s ‘Biggest Crypto-Ponzi Scam’, STA’s Country Head Among 2 Arrested
Earlier, the EOW had arrested Gurtej Singh Sidhu and Nirod Das, who are the country and state heads of STA Token respectively, from Rajasthan and Bhadrak respectively on August 7. A Bhubaneswar-based investment advisor and financial consultant, Ratnakar Palai (45), who completed his MTech in Information Technology (IT) from Karnataka University, was nabbed on August 15.
Also Read: Rs 1K-Cr Crypto Scam: EOW Arrests Social Media Influencer Of STA In Odisha
The company is accused of operating a pyramid-structured Ponzi business and collecting around Rs 1,000 crore deposits from 2 lakh people across the country without having any authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India. People were lured on social media to invest in cryptocurrency by the firm, which offered an incentive to enrol more investors under them and build the networks.
Also Read: Odisha EOW Takes Rs 1000 Crore Crypto Ponzi Scam Accused On 3-Day Remand
