Actor Prakash Raj Called by ED for Money Laundering
ED summons actor Prakash Raj over alleged involvement in Pranav Jewelers' ?100 Crore Ponzi scheme fraud.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned actor Prakash Raj to question him about the money laundering of Pranav Jewelers' alleged Rs. 100 Crore Ponzi – fraud case. Ponzi means an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often promise to invest your money and generate high returns with little or no risk. Pranav Jewelers is a partnership company based in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. It was suspected of running a Ponzi scheme behind the facade of the brand’s goodwill. An FIR was registered against Pranav Jewelers by the Economic Offences Wing for collecting Rs. 100 Crores from the public for high return promising gold investment scheme. After the FIR, the ED raided Pranav Jewelers on 20th November 2023 and found various incriminating documents, unexplained Rs 23.70 lakh in cash, and gold jewelry weighing 11.60 kg. All were seized by ED. The ED investigation revealed that Pranav Jewelers diverted these public funds to shell entities and showed it as purchasing bullion (gold or silver in bulk) / gold ornaments. After checking the accounts books, ED found out that Pranav Jewelers supplier parties were their entry providers. During the investigation, the supplier parties confessed to providing adjustment entries to Pranav Jewelers for more than Rs 100 crore. They also confessed to giving cash instead of bank payments to Pranav Jewelers. Prakash Raj was the brand ambassador of the company and therefore, has been summoned by ED for investigation in Chennai in the first week of December. The ED wants to record Prakash’s statement to gather information about alleged payments & financial transactions made between him & the company.
