Torres Ponzi scheme: Interpol issues blue corner notice against 8 Ukrainians and a Turkish national

A blue corner notice is issued to request other members of the Interpol and law enforcement agencies to collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation. A red corner notice can be issued against them once the chargesheet is filled in the case, another officer said.

Police have issued blue corner notice against suspected mastermind Olena Stoian, director of Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd that runs Torres, Victoria Kovalenko, Mustafa Karakoc, Oleksandr Borovyk, Oleksandr Zapichenko, Oleksandra Brunkivska, Oleksandra Tredokhib, Artem Oliferchuk and Iurchenko Igor. Mustafa Karakoc is a Turkish national while the rest are Ukrainians, an EOW officer said.

All are wanted, while the company’s general manager Taniya Xasatova alias Tazagul Karaxanovna Xasatova (Uzbekistan), director Sarvesh Ashok Surve, and store in-charge Valentina Ganesh Kumar (Russian origin OCI) have already been arrested. Besides, EOW has also arrested alleged hawala operators Alpesh Khara (54).

The Ukrainian masterminds of the Torres fraud are suspected to have sent Rs 200 crore abroad, as claimed in the emails sent by alleged whistleblowers to the police and other law enforcement agencies before the matter came to the public.

The emails claim that the accused company (the masterminds) purchased over Rs 200 crore worth USDT (Tether) in the past three months and transferred it out of India.

After the arrest of alleged hawala operator Khara, EOW officials have learned that after cash is collected from the investors from the six branches, two Ukrainian nationals along with wanted CEO of the company Mohammed Tausif Reyaz would take it to Grant Road office of Khara so that the same could be sent abroad via hawala channels. Khara is not revealing details of his laptop to the police and is also not cooperating with the investigators, alleged EOW investigators.

Khara was responsible for illegally converting the cash into USDT cryptocurrency, the whistleblower’s emails claimed.

“The outflow of ₹200 crore highlights the scale of money laundering facilitated by Torres. The use of cash to purchase cryptocurrency bypasses legitimate financial channels and poses a significant risk to India’s financial ecosystem. The involvement of foreign nationals, hawala operators, and dual identity holders indicate a well-organized cross-border operation,” the whistleblowers’ emails stated.

Multiple emails with identical content were sent to various authorities between December 30, 2024 and January 2-3, 2025 by the alleged whistleblowers—Virar resident Mohamed Tausif Reyaz alias John Carter, chartered accountant Abhishekh Gupta, and director Survesh Surve.

Gupta, who sought protection from the high court, is assisting the EOW in the investigation, while his partner Surve has been arrested.
Reyaz, an original resident of Patna, Bihar, is wanted by the EOW. He was listed as the CEO of Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd, the company that operates the Torres brand.

Though he claimed himself to be one of the whistleblowers, unlike Gupta he is on the run and is not showing up prompting investigators to suspect he could be involved in the alleged fraud and later used Gupta’s audit report to cover up sensing that the fraud was going to get exposed soon, an EOW officer said. The EOW has appealed to the public to share information of Reyaz with Mumbai police.

The police are also investigating claims that the accused illegally brought significant amounts of gold (25kg) and silver (75kg) into the country, as alleged in the whistleblowers’ emails. Their emails also say that the accused foreigners have similarly committed frauds in Ukraine and Turkey.

The whistleblowers’ emails allege that nearly 60,000 people invested money in Torres.

On January 6, thousands of investors from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, and Mira Road staged protests outside Torres’ jewellery stores in Dadar, Mira Road, and APMC Navi Mumbai after they stopped receiving their promised interest payments in late December. On the same day, Shivaji Nagar police registered an FIR citing a fraud amount of Rs 13.48 crore from 66 different investors. The case was later transferred to the EOW. FIRs were also registered by Navghar police in Mira Bhayander, Rabodi police in Thane, and APMC police in Navi Mumbai.

The Torres brand, operated by Platinum Hern Pvt Ltd, allegedly floated multiple schemes offering exorbitant weekly interest rates, with some yielding an annual return of up to 500%. Initially, investors were lured with incentives such as iPhones, jewellery and other expensive gifts, including branded bags, cars, and apartments. However, the promised returns began defaulting in late December.

Many investors broke fixed deposits, took out high-interest loans, and even mortgaged jewellery and homes to invest in these lucrative but ultimately fraudulent schemes.

So far, nearly 4,000 investors have approached EOW reporting fraud worth Rs 57 crore. The police have carried out searches and have seized and frozen valuables, including cash worth Rs 20 crore.