ED Files Fresh Chargesheet Against Chinese Gaming App That Operated During Covid Period

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has filed a fresh charge against an online gaming app run by Chinese nationals in India during the Covid pandemic years, leading to “cheating” worth Rs 400 crore from players. The first prosecution complaint (charge sheet) against the app called ‘Fiewin’ was filed by the federal investigation agency before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kolkata in October 2024.

The agency had arrested three people in the past and seized assets worth 26 billion rupees.

The supplementary charge sheet was filed in the same court on December 8 and named two persons (Utkarsh Arya and Sujit Kumar Jha) and 12 companies “beneficially owned” by Jha as accused, ED said in a statement.

According to the federal investigation agency, these companies were used as a corporate structure to hide criminal proceeds generated by Fiewin gaming application operators, which were reflected as “business income”.

According to ED, ‘Fiewin’ came into existence during the Covid period in 2020 and operated until June 2023.

“This gaming application was designed as an application that would make money quickly and easily, and was marketed through YouTube, Facebook and other digital mechanisms. The application itself contained simple games based entirely on luck, such as minesweeper, color prediction, etc., without any role of the player’s skills,” the research agency said.

The agency said the investigation revealed that Chinese nationals were running the app with the help and support of Indian nationals. The defendants and their associated companies traded proceeds of crime with Chinese citizens, sending and receiving money via cryptocurrency.

According to the ED investigation, funds obtained from naive online players were deposited into the bank accounts of various individuals (called reloaders) who allowed their accounts to be used by app owners in lieu of a specific commission.

Around Rs 400 crore was generated from the Fiewin app “scam” and transferred to Binance wallets (a global crypto exchange) in the names of Chinese citizens. ED found that Chinese nationals communicated and gave instructions to the defendants through digital platforms, especially Telegram groups.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR filed at Cossipore police station in Kolkata.