Bitcoin billionaire school dropout, fabricated documents to cheat gullible investors: Police

THANE: Bitcoin billionaire Amit Lakhanpal, who sold his get-rich-soon dreams with his new-age digital currency, is a “semi-literate swindler” from Airoli, who fabricated documents to cheat gullible investors of hundreds of dollars, according to the police.
Investigations probing Lakhanpal’s antecedents revealed that the so-called head honcho of the Money Trade Coin (MTC) group, which is said to have offices in Europe and the Gulf region, is a school dropout who studied up to Class VIII and was till recently staying in a modest home in Airoli, Navi Mumbai.

Officials from the Thane crime branch on Wednesday conducted a search of his vacant Airoli residence and recovered certain documents, jewellery and cash worth a few lakhs of rupees.

“If anything, he is a professional fraudster, who fabricated everything from his so-called PhD degree, to a certificate from a prominent international bank proclaiming bank deposits of Rs 250 crore, a fake letter of credit for Rs 1,750 crore and many more. He built his equity in the international circuit showing these fake assets and would flaunt his association with Bollywood actors with the photographs displayed in his offices,” said an officer from the Thane crime branch, which is probing the case.

He added that the conman would convince investors about his contacts with the who’s who and had also manufactured a certificate announcing himself as adviser to the ministry of finance in New Delhi.

Police commissioner Param Bir Singh said the cheat took advantage of the fact that not too much is known about the new gold that Lakhanpal was offering when he convinced investors that its value was rising rapidly.

“He said it was the future and would transform the finance system across continents. In fact, when he first launched his bitcoin, the initial coin offering was three dollars and he would proclaim that its price had risen up to 4,000– 6,000 dollars,” said the police officer.