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“We have already submitted the required documents. Hopefully, the money will be credited to the CID account on Sunday morning,” the official added.

CID officials described the recovery as a major milestone in tackling cross-border financial crime, marking the country’s first successful repatriation of funds held overseas after such a scam.

MTFE, short for Metaverse Foreign Exchange, is a platform that expanded rapidly in Bangladesh using a multi-level marketing (MLM) model that lured investors with promises of high returns from cryptocurrency and forex trading, according to CID.

The platform began operating in Bangladesh around June 2022 and grew quickly in early 2023. Users were given virtual trading accounts where deposits appeared as digital dollars.

Investigators later found the system had been manipulated to fabricate profits and losses, creating an illusion of legitimate trading activity. Payouts were made early to build trust among investors.

By mid-2023, however, withdrawals were abruptly blocked and the platform vanished.

According to CID estimates and media reports, around Tk 11,000 crore was siphoned off -- mostly from Bangladeshi investors. Thousands of people across Dhaka, Barishal, Rajshahi, Cumilla, Naogaon, Kushtia, Brahmanbaria and Satkhira are believed to have been affected.

One such victim, Maruf Rahaman Mahim, filed a case with Khilgaon Police Station on August 28, 2023, under the Digital Security Act, accusing MTFE’s founding chairman Mohammad Masud Alam, MTFE agent Mobashirul Ebad, and 50–60 unnamed individuals. The case was later transferred to CID.

During the probe, investigators found the virtual currency shown in users’ accounts was entirely fictitious. Funds were funnelled into MTFE-linked wallets before being transferred to central accounts and dispersed across multiple cryptocurrency wallets, including those on the exchange OKX.

CID later learned that Sri Lankan authorities had recovered MTFE-linked funds from the same platform. Acting on this lead, it contacted the exchange, which requested formal documentation.

With support from the US Embassy in Dhaka, the US Secret Service, the FBI, and the US Department of Justice’s ICITAP programme, investigators traced and seized cryptocurrency assets worth around Tk 45 crore from MTFE-linked wallets.

To facilitate repatriation, CID signed an agreement with Asset Reality Limited in November last year. Under the deal, the firm was tasked with receiving the seized crypto assets, liquidating them, and transferring the proceeds to Bangladesh, charging a 2.5 percent service fee.

A dedicated account at Sonali Bank’s Malibagh branch was opened to receive the funds, with three CID officials as signatories.

“The seized cryptocurrency in an OKX wallet was first transferred to Asset Reality, which then converted it into US dollars and remitted the funds to us,” a senior CID official told The Daily Star.

According to CID sources, the recovered money will be distributed among victims through a court-supervised process after verification of claims and supporting documents.

Individuals will not be able to claim funds directly. Officials said the judicial route was chosen to ensure transparency and accountability.

“The victims will be listed, and Bangladesh Bank along with the court will decide how the money will be distributed,” said Mohammad Bashir Uddin.

CID chief Mosleh Uddin Ahmed could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts over the phone.