Enforcement Directorate Freezes ₹110 Crore in Parimatch Money Laundering Probe
India's Enforcement Directorate has frozen ₹110 crore held in mule bank accounts and seized more than 1,200 credit cards linked to Parimatch, a Cyprus-based online betting platform deemed illegal. This action stems from an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, triggered by a Mumbai police cyber crime complaint on August 12. The moves expose a vast scheme evading financial oversight through layered deception.
Surrogate Entities Fuel Expansion
Parimatch built its Indian footprint via aggressive marketing, including sponsorships, celebrity endorsements, and promotions masked through two local shell companies: Parimatch Sports and Parimatch News. These entities handled advertisements and deals funded by foreign remittances, skirting bans on direct betting promotion. Such tactics lent legitimacy to operations generating an estimated ₹3,000 crore annually.
Mule Networks Layer Illicit Funds
Raids across 17 locations in Mumbai, Noida, Jaipur, Surat, Madurai, Kanpur, and Hyderabad uncovered a web of mule accounts routing user deposits nationwide. In one Tamil Nadu instance, cash withdrawals fed hawala operators who topped up UK virtual wallets, later converted to cryptocurrency via controlled accounts. Western India saw domestic money transfer agents dispatch funds through mule credit cards to platform handlers.
Rejected Firms as Payment Shields
Payment companies denied aggregator licenses by the Reserve Bank of India posed as technology service providers, supplying APIs to integrate mule accounts disguised as e-commerce or payment fronts. User deposits via UPI flowed into these, then layered as refunds, chargebacks, or vendor payouts to obscure trails. This integration highlights regulatory gaps exploited by digital intermediaries.
Probe Targets Wider Accomplices
The scale underscores risks in unchecked digital finance, where betting platforms blend with legitimate tech flows. Investigators now eye domestic partners, ad firms, payment middlemen, and endorsers tied to the surrogates. Further actions could tighten controls on cross-border remittances and API access, reshaping enforcement against shadow economies.
