SFO recovers further £295,000 from metal trading fraudster.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has successfully reclaimed an additional £295,000 from Virendra Rastogi, who is currently referred to as Vareen Kumar or Veerain Kumarr, following his conviction for involvement in an international metal trading fraud.
The funds were retrieved from two pension schemes as part of an ongoing investigation into the proceeds of crime related to Rastogi’s assets, which has successfully recovered nearly £6 million to date. This amount includes proceeds from the sale of his property in Marylebone and the seizure of various assets, including high-value watches.
Rastogi was one of three former directors of RBG Resources plc who faced prosecution by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in 2008 for orchestrating an international metal trading fraud from 1996 to 2002, which resulted in losses of nearly $700 million for banks worldwide. He received a sentence of nine and a half years in prison.
Together with his fellow directors, Anand Jain and Gautam Majumdar, Rastogi fabricated over 300 fictitious customers for the company, allegedly located at addresses in Dubai, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Singapore, and the United States. They utilized these non-existent customers to generate false metal trades, enabling them to obtain cash advances from financial institutions.
The SFO investigation uncovered cases of allegedly independent customers sharing the same address, including one individual who was registered at a location that turned out to be a cow shed in India. The SFO's inquiry into Rastogi's proceeds of crime remains active.
Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Nick Ephgrave QPM, stated: "Our work to bring justice doesn’t stop at conviction. We proactively seek out and pursue the proceeds of crime in whatever form they take, from pension pots to luxury watches, to ensure criminals like Rastogi don’t benefit from their crimes."
