Prashanta Kumar Halder

Prashanta Kumar Halder, also known as PK Halder, is a Bangladeshi-Canadian banker, businessman and finance officer. He is known for embezzling of more than 102 billion taka ($854 million USD approximately as of 2024), one of the biggest fraud cases in Bangladesh. The Daily Star called him the "Sultan of Swindle".

Prashanta Kuman Halder was born in a small village in Nazirpur Upazilla of the Pirojpur District to a Hindu family. His father's name is Prananendu Halder and mother's name is Lilavati Halder who was a teacher at a local governmental institute. He is the second son in the family. His elder brother's name is Pritish Kumar Halder. They both graduated from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Later he got both his MBA & CFA from the University of Dhaka.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, Halder was made the Deputy Managing Director of Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited.

Halder became the managing director of Reliance Finance Limited in 2009.

In July 2015, Halder was appointed the managing director of NRB Global Bank (later rebranded Global Islami Bank).

Halder owned HAL international, whose director, Swapan Kumar Mistri, was a director of International Leasing and Financial Services Limited. Mistri's wife was the chairperson of Mutual Trust Bank Limited Marine. Uttam Kumar Mistri, Swapan's brother, and his wife, Atoshi Mridha, embezzled nearly 800 million taka from International Leasing and Financial Services Limited through a fake company called Kolasin From 2015 to 2019, Amitav Adhikari, Halder's cousin, was a director of People's Leasing And Financial Services Limited, and Uzzal Kumar Nandi, his former colleague, was the chairperson of People's Leasing And Financial Services Limited. They helped Halder embezzle millions from People's Leasing And Financial Services Limited. Halder than became chairman of People's Leasing And Financial Services Limited.

Investigations started against Halder in 2019 after a number of raids on illegal casinos in Dhaka.

According to Bangladesh Bank in 2020, Halder had stolen 15 billion taka from International Leasing and Financial Services Limited, 22 billion from FAS Finance & Investment Limited, 30 billion from People's Leasing And Financial Services Limited, and 25 billion taka from Reliance Finance Limited. He was being investigated by Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit and the Anti Corruption Commission.