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$4B OneCoin scam co-founder pleads guilty, faces 60 years jail

December 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

The co-founder of the fraudulent scheme is set to be sentenced in April 2023 on charges relating to wire fraud and money laundering.

Karl Sebastian Greenwood, the co-founder of the multi-billion dollar fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin has pleaded guilty to multiple charges brought forward by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and faces a maximum of 60 years in prison.

The DOJ announced on Dec. 16 that Greenwood submitted a guilty plea in a Manhattan federal court to charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy with each charge carrying a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in jail.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Greenwood operated “one of the largest international fraud schemes ever perpetrated” and claimed he touted OneCoin as a “Bitcoin killer” when in reality the tokens were “entirely worthless.”

OneCoin was a Bulgarian company founded by Greenwood alongside “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova that marketed a cryptocurrency by the same name. Emails obtained by the DOJ between the two before its founding in 2014 allege the pair called it a “trashy coin.”

*Greenwood on stage in Jun. 2016 at OneCoin’s “COIN RUSH” event in London. Image:* *YouTube*

Outwardly it claimed to be a multi-level marketing firm with members gaining commissions for selling cryptocurrency packages apparently containing OneCoin and the ability to mine more. OneCoin could only be exchanged for fiat currency on the private Xcoinx exchange.

In reality, it was both a pyramid and a Ponzi scheme as investors could recruit others into the scheme without an actual product and later investors were paid with the money from earlier investors.

According to the DOJ Greenwood was earning around $21.2 million (€20 million) per month in his role as the “global master distributor” of the fraudulent crypto firm. Over $4 billion is believed to have been swindled by OneCoin from the three million people who invested in the packages.

Ignatova was placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s top ten most wanted list in June for her role in the scheme. She remains at large and was last known to have traveled to Athens, Greece in Oct. 2017.

Williams said Greenwood’s plea “sends a clear message” the DOJ is “coming after all those who seek to exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem through fraud, no matter how big or sophisticated you are.”

Greenwood is slated to be sentenced before District Judge Edgardo Ramos on Apr. 5, 2023.

Authorities elsewhere have charged those involved with OneCoin and Ignatova, with three associates facing charges in Germany over fraud and money laundering.

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Onecoin Cryptoqueen Associates Appear in German Court

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‘Cryptoqueen’ associates face German court for role in $4B OneCoin scheme

October 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

<div>'Cryptoqueen' associates face German court for role in B OneCoin scheme</div>

Coin Telegraph

The whereabouts of “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova are still unknown but the charges against OneCoin members are starting to pile up.

Three associates of fugitive OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova, known colloquially as the “Cryptoqueen,” have faced a German court over allegations of fraud, money laundering and banking crimes.

Appearing in court on Oct. 18, a Munich-based lawyer connected to Ignatova is alleged to have transferred $19.7 million via the Cayman Islands on her behalf to purchase two London apartments. Additionally, a husband and wife are facing charges over allegedly handling $315.4 million worth of payments from OneCoin customers, as per a Bloomberg report.

Ignatova launched OneCoin back in 2014 under the guise of a cryptocurrency and trading project, however according to enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), it was soon found to be a pyramid scheme roping users in with fictitious business and technical claims that were untrue, such as a token mining structure that was non-existent.

According to the FBI, the project defrauded more than 3 million investors out of roughly $4 billion, with prosecutors noting in the German court that:

“In reality, the ever-growing value was a fake and the mining process was only simulated by the software.”

Ignatova’s whereabouts have been unknown since 2017, her last known location was reported to be in Athens, Greece.

In June the FBI added her to its top ten most wanted list, offering up $100,000 for information leading to her arrest. Apart from being wanted for over $4 billion worth of fraud, her company has also been accused of bribing presidents in Serbia and Bulgaria by economist and crypto proponent Angelina Lazar.

The latest three OneCoin figures to face prosecutors adds to the action taken against another alleged accomplice Christoper Hamilton, accused of laundering $105 million through the scheme in 2014.

In August 2021, a judge in the United Kingdom approved the extradition process for Hamilton to face changes in the United States and it was reported he was extradited at the start of September.

Cryptoqueen’s brother Konstantin Ignatov took over the reins of OneCoin at one point, and pleaded guilty to several money laundering and fraud related charges in 2019, while two of his associates were the subject of a class action suit that was brought to trial in March 2020.

The case of the missing Cryptoqueen has remained a subject of keen interest to date, with journalist and author Jamie Bartlett hosting a popular podcast on the topic via the BBC that has published 11 episodes so far.

Bartlett also published a book on the entire ordeal in June called The Missing Cryptoqueen: The Billion Dollar Cryptocurrency Con and the Woman Who Got Away with It, providing a public discussion on the book at the Red Line Festival in South Dublin on Oct. 16.

Cryptoqueen