{"id":777037180,"date":"2026-01-26T09:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777037180"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:01:34","slug":"ed-files-pmla-prosecution-against-winzo-directors-over-alleged-bot-manipulation-and-money-laundering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ed-files-pmla-prosecution-against-winzo-directors-over-alleged-bot-manipulation-and-money-laundering","title":{"rendered":"ED files PMLA prosecution against Winzo over alleged bot manipulation and money laundering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Between FY 2021\/22 and FY 2025\/26, Winzo allegedly amassed \u20b93,522.05 crore in illicit proceeds, which were then laundered through shell firms in the US and Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>India.- The <strong>Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India <\/strong>has initiated a case against online real money gaming platform <strong>Winzo Pvt. Ltd<\/strong> for alleged violations under the <strong>Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002<\/strong>. Filed on <strong>January 23 <\/strong>before the <strong>Special Court for PMLA cases (CCH-1) in Bengaluru,<\/strong> the case names Winzo as the main accused along with directors <strong>Paavan Nanda <\/strong>and <strong>Saumya Singh Rathore<\/strong> and subsidiaries including <strong>Winzo US Inc. (USA), Winzo SG Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) and ZO Pvt. Ltd<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ED\u2019s probe began after several FIRs were registered by the <strong>Bengaluru CEN Police<\/strong> and police departments in <strong>Rajasthan<\/strong>, <strong>New Delhi and Gurugram<\/strong>, citing cheating under the Indian Penal Code. The directorate said Winzo ran a real money gaming platform featuring <strong>more than 100 games<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It says that until <strong>December 2023<\/strong> Winzo ran games with AI- and algorithm-powered bots. Subsequently, between <strong>May 2024 and August 2025<\/strong>, the company allegedly simulated the historical play of inactive users against real players without informing them, masking the activity with terms such as \u201cEngagement Play\u201d, \u201cPast Performance of Player\u201d and \u201cPersona\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investigators determined that users were lured with easy wins and bonus incentives to build confidence, after which more aggressive bots were introduced at higher stakes. The ED reported that \u20b947.66 crore in genuine winnings were allegedly withheld by the company during this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also claims illicit proceeds were laundered through shell firms in the US and Singapore, including about US$55m disguised as overseas direct investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ED carried out search and seizure operations on <strong>November 18, 2025<\/strong>, and <strong>December 30, 2025<\/strong> at Winzo\u2019s corporate offices, directors\u2019 homes and an accounting firm\u2019s premises. <\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/12\/48933419-79de-4bad-a8a9-efede14c32b2-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ed-confiscates-%e2%82%b9117-41-crore-assets-of-probo-media-technologies-in-online-gambling-case'>India ED confiscates assets from Probo Media Technologies in online gambling case<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Between FY 2021\/22 and FY 2025\/26, Winzo allegedly amassed \u20b93,522.05 crore in illicit proceeds, which were then laundered through shell firms in the US and Singapore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":777036567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated a PMLA case against online real money gaming platform Winzo Pvt. Ltd., its directors, and subsidiaries for allegedly amassing \u20b93,522.05 crore in illicit proceeds between FY 2021\/22 and FY 2025\/26. The allegations include laundering funds through shell firms in the US and Singapore, simulating historical play against real users without disclosure, and withholding genuine winnings.","focusai_entities":"Winzo Pvt. Ltd., Enforcement Directorate (ED), Paavan Nanda, Saumya Singh Rathore, Winzo US Inc., Winzo SG Pte. Ltd., ZO Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru CEN Police","focusai_location":"India, Bengaluru, Rajasthan, New Delhi, Gurugram, US, Singapore","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"ED's PMLA Impact","query":"What are the potential long-term implications of the Enforcement Directorate's PMLA investigation on Winzo's operational viability and its ability to secure future B2B\/B2C licensing in regulated markets?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Gaps","query":"How might this case influence the evolution of India's real money gaming regulatory framework, particularly concerning the oversight of AI-powered game mechanics, player engagement transparency, and cross-border financial flows?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16334],"tags":[29,24619,1897],"class_list":["post-777037180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-finance","tag-igaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777037180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777037180"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777037180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777037188,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777037180\/revisions\/777037188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777036567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777037180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777037180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777037180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}