Amit Bhardwaj, a man accused of running a $300-million Bitcoin Ponzi scheme, has reportedly been granted bail on medical grounds, citing a deteriorating kidney condition.
The former entrepreneur, who was arrested in Bangkok last year, was reportedly admitted into Apollo Hospital in India, maintaning he needed regular dialysis treatment to treat his condition.
As previously reported by Hard Fork, Bhardwaj set up a series of Bitcoin mining firms, including GB Miners, Gain Bitcoin, and MCAP. As part of the scheme, he promised investors 10x returns for their money. Needless to say, none of his promises delivered and, instead, investors lost their hard-earned cash.
“While Amit Bhardwaj has been granted interim bail based on his health ground, the Supreme Court granted bail to his brother, purely based on the merits of the case,” Bhardwaj’s lawyer, Deepak Prakash told Inc42.
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The two brothers have asked the Supreme Court to combine all the 12 cases listed against them across various Indian states. Prakash told Inc42 that the Supreme Court could potentially hear the matter on April 27.
Amit Bhardwaj’s case was supposed to be heard at the Bombay High Court on April 2, but a new date has now been set for April 22.
India has seen its fair share of cryptocurrency scams in the past. In February, police in India‘s financial hub Mumbai booked a local resident for duping $250,000 out of 12 people in an alleged cryptocurrency scam.
Also in February, criminal investigation authorities in Gujarat accused five people of running a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO) called Bitstrades.
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