Gurugram: Long before he pleaded guilty in his role in a cryptocurrency fraud in the US, Kunal Mehta had humble beginnings in Haryana’s Hisar before he landed there chasing the American Dream.
Currently residing in California’s Irvine, Mehta has admitted his role in the multi-state conspiracy estimated to be about $260 million before a US District Court. The case details were released by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on the Department of Justice (DOJ) website.
Kunal Mehta’s father Deepak Mehta lived in Hisar’s Model Town area before 2000 and worked as an insurance agent with the Life Insurance Corporation.
The 45-year-old completed his schooling in Hisar, and the family resided in a house in the Hisar Model Town. The family later sold the property and relocated to Delhi before eventually moving to the US, where Mehta’s sister was already settled.
Mehta first met the members of the group that engaged in fraud in early 2024 through a money exchanger who was friendly with the owner of a Los Angeles exotic car dealership. “The money exchanger solicited Mehta’s assistance with crypto-to-cash conversions in the tens of thousands of dollars. Mehta charged a 10 percent fee for converting the cryptocurrency to fiat cash,” according to a press release by the US Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia.
Following Mehta’s guilty plea, Haryana intelligence agencies have begun investigating Mehta and his family’s background in detail, confirmed a source in the Haryana Police.
His Facebook page describes him as ‘Kunal Deepak Kumar Mehta’.
‘The Accountant’
According to court documents, Mehta aka ‘Papa’, ‘The Accountant’, and ‘Shrek’, served as a money launderer for a sophisticated criminal enterprise that began before October 2023 and continued through at least March 2025. He admitted to laundering at least $25 million (approximately Rs 213 crore).
The conspiracy originated through relationships formed on online gaming platforms and involved individuals based in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and abroad.
The group of individuals used social engineering tactics to infiltrate victims’ accounts and steal cryptocurrency from Americans. The criminal network included database hackers, organisers, target identifiers, callers, money launderers, and even residential burglars who targeted hardware virtual currency wallets.
Kunal Mehta along with his co-conspirators stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from victims and then laundered that money to give it the appearance of legitimacy, spending it lavishly on themselves. We are committed to rooting out fraud and holding those… https://t.co/8PCdTVXDmZ
— US Attorney Pirro (@USAttyPirro) November 18, 2025
In his bid to legitimise the funds, Mehta created multiple shell companies in 2024 with associated bank accounts designed to give the appearance of legality. He, according to the documents, used to receive stolen cryptocurrency that had already been partially laundered, transferred it to associates who further obscured its origins through sophisticated blockchain techniques, and then received the funds back through wire transfers into his shell company accounts.
He would personally deliver cash to conspiracy members when requested and perform wire transfers to exotic car dealerships, private jet companies, and real estate rental firms—always collecting his 10 percent commission.
Lavish lifestyle
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informed the court that the stolen cryptocurrency funded an extraordinarily lavish lifestyle, including nightclub services costing up to $500,000 per evening; luxury handbags worth tens of thousands of dollars, given away at nightclub parties; luxury watches valued between $100,000 and $500,000; designer clothing worth tens of thousands of dollars; rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami; private jet rentals and a team of private security guards; a fleet of at least 28 exotic cars valued from $100,000 to $3.8 million.
Kunal Mehta’s Instagram page of testimony of his lavish lifestyle where he has posted his pictures with luxury cars and luxurious lifestyle.
Mehta also facilitated exotic car purchases for the predominantly young members of the conspiracy. His co-conspirators avoided registering luxury and costly cars like Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, Porsches, and Ferraris in their own names so as to prevent drawing attention to their unexplained wealth as unemployed young men.
The accused used to register the vehicles in his shell companies’ names and recruited straw signers, who placed their names on car titles and purchase documents in exchange for payments exceeding $10,000 apiece.
The $263 mn Bitcoin theft
According to the court documents, Mehta’s co-conspirator Malone Lam and another associate contacted a victim in Washington DC, and fraudulently obtained over 4,100 Bitcoin through their communications on 18 August, 2024.
At the time of the heist, the value of the stolen cryptocurrency was $263 million (approximately Rs 2,238 crore). At current values, they are worth more than $384.5 million (approximately Rs 3,272 crore).
According to the court documents, Mehta is the eighth defendant to plead guilty in this case.
In all, 14 defendants have been charged in connection with the scheme, facing allegations including cybercrime, money laundering, fraud, and obstruction of justice.
“Kunal Mehta along with his co-conspirators stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from victims and then laundered that money to give it the appearance of legitimacy, spending it lavishly on themselves,” said US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. “We are committed to rooting out fraud and holding those responsible fully accountable.”
The case was being investigated by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Washington DC Field Office, with significant support from the FBI’s Los Angeles and Miami field offices.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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