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$130 Million Scam

An NRI businessman in London is charged with running a Ponzi scheme that duped over 600 people.

By LIFS September 10, 2009 at 12:12 PM

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An NRI businessman and his two accomplices have been arrested in London on charges of running a $130 million Ponzi scheme that duped over 600 people, including several celebrities.

38-year-old Kautilya Nandan Pruthi, whose online profile describes him as a “zany entrepreneur with some good ideas who is interested in good food, cars and bikes,” allegedly promised investors monthly returns of up to 13 percent through his company Business Consulting International, which claimed to have invested in small and struggling companies overseas. However, police allege he was running a classic Ponzi scheme using new money to pay off older investors.

The Guardian reported that potential investors were often duped by Pruthi’s lavish lifestyle, with one telling the newspaper, “He arrived in a white Rolls-Royce, chauffeur-driven, and he had a Ferrari and Harley [Davidson] parked in the garage.”