{"id":777038236,"date":"2026-02-19T12:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777038236"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:13:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:13:53","slug":"ed-attaches-56m-linked-to-winzo-overseas-shell-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ed-attaches-56m-linked-to-winzo-overseas-shell-companies","title":{"rendered":"ED freezes $56m allegedly linked to Winzo overseas shell companies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The agency said its probe revealed that the company was involved in illegal and unethical practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

India.- The Enforcement Directorate has announced the freezing of $US56m, roughly equivalent to Rs 470 crore, in bank accounts in the US and Singapore linked to overseas shell companies allegedly associated with gaming app operator Winzo Pvt Ltd<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to investigators, the funds were held in accounts under Winzo US Inc, USA<\/strong>, and Winzo SG Pte Ltd, Singapore<\/strong>, both allegedly controlled by Paavan Nanda <\/strong>and Saumya<\/strong> Rathore<\/strong>, the proprietors of Winzo Pvt Ltd<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement published yesterday, the agency said the company was involved in illegal and unethical practices, including operating play real-money games that used bots or AI without players’ knowledge. It said that Winzo Pvt Ltd earned proceeds of crime through a \u2018Rake Commission\u2019<\/strong> on matches played between bots and real players on its app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winzo also allegedly restricted customers from making withdrawals or transferring funds out of their accounts. The directorate noted that by using bots and creating a restrictive withdrawal environment, users were induced to play more matches. It alleged that the company generated total proceeds of crime of Rs 3,522 crore <\/strong>between 2021 and 2025<\/strong> from these activities.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> ED files PMLA prosecution against Winzo over alleged bot manipulation and money laundering<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The agency said its probe revealed that the company was involved in illegal and unethical practices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":9517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Enforcement Directorate has frozen $US56m (Rs 470 crore) in US and Singapore bank accounts linked to Winzo Pvt Ltd, alleging the gaming app operator engaged in illegal practices. These include deploying bots and AI in real-money games without player disclosure, generating illicit 'Rake Commission,' and restricting player withdrawals to induce further play. The agency claims Winzo generated Rs 3,522 crore in proceeds of crime from these activities between 2021 and 2025.","focusai_entities":"Enforcement Directorate, Winzo Pvt Ltd, Winzo US Inc, Winzo SG Pte Ltd, Paavan Nanda, Saumya Rathore","focusai_location":"India, US, Singapore","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.85), tech_data (0.8), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Impact Assessment","query":"What are the broader implications of the Enforcement Directorate's actions on the regulatory landscape for real-money gaming in India, particularly concerning B2C licensing and operational compliance?"},{"label":"Operational Risk Mitigation","query":"How will this asset freeze and the allegations of bot manipulation impact Winzo Pvt Ltd's operational continuity, market access, and its ability to attract or retain capital?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16334],"tags":[29,24619,23911],"class_list":["post-777038236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-finance","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777038236","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=777038236"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777038236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777038242,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777038236\/revisions\/777038242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777038236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777038236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777038236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}