Cryptoqueen’s OneCoin legal chief pleads guilty to fraud

November 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

The former head of legal and compliance at OneCoin faces up to 10 years in prison for her role in the $4 billion crypto trading scheme.

The former compliance chief of OneCoin — a 2015 crypto scheme that defrauded investors out of $4 billion — has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in Manhattan federal court.

In a Nov. 10 statement, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos had accepted 42-year-old Irinia Dilkinska’s guilty plea.

“Head of Legal and Compliance” for multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency pyramid scheme “OneCoin” pleads guiltyhttps://t.co/E656236UXh
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) November 9, 2023

Dilkinska pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit laundering. Each charge carries a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison.

“OneCoin’s so-called ‘Head of Legal and Compliance’ Irina Dilkinska accomplished the exact opposite goal of her position," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in the statement.

“As she has now admitted, Dilkinska facilitated the laundering of millions of dollars of illicit profits OneCoin accrued through its multi-level-marketing scheme.”

The prosecution found that despite her role as the head of compliance for OneCoin, Dilkinsa played a key role in laundering money for the scheme. At one point Dilkinsa facilitated the transfer of $110 million in fraudulently obtained proceeds to an entity in the Cayman Islands.

Dilkinska’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 14, 2024 — where she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for her role in the OneCoin scheme.

The Department of Justice first charged Dilkinska with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering on March 21.

OneCoin was founded in 2014 by “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood. Greenwood has since been sentenced to 20 years in prison on fraud and money laundering charges, while also being ordered to pay $300 million in restitution.

Ignatova, however, remains at large, having gone missing in October 2017 after a flight to Greece just 15 days after a federal warrant was issued for her arrest.

OneCoin was exposed as fraudulent in 2015 but still managed to generate over $4.3 billion in revenue, recording profits of nearly $3 billion between Q4 2014 and Q4 2016.

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OneCoin head of compliance facing 40 year sentence after US extradition

March 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The alleged fraudster was accused of doing the “exact opposite” of her job title, which was to ensure OneCoin was complying with laws.

United States federal prosecutors have charged a former executive of the fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin for her role in the operation, who now faces up to 40 years in prison after being extradited from Bulgaria.

On March 21 the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged OneCoin’s former head of legal and compliance Irina Dilkinska with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each carrying a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.

Dilkinska allegedly aided in laundering over $400 million of OneCoin’s proceeds, and upon hearing of a co-conspirator’s arrest destroyed incriminating evidence and sent incriminating messages.

Bulgarian woman charged for role in multi-billion-dollar cryptocurrency pyramid scheme “OneCoin” and extradited from Bulgaria to the United Stateshttps://t.co/XsY0rYJWeF
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) March 21, 2023

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams pointed out the irony in Dilikinska’s job title given the nature of OneCoin, saying:

“Irina Dilkinska, the supposed Head of Legal and Compliance for the OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid scheme, accomplished the exact opposite of her job title and allegedly enabled OneCoin to launder millions of dollars of illegal proceeds through shell companies."

The announcement said Dilkinska was extradited from Bulgaria on March 20 and was set to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn the following day.

OneCoin was founded in 2014 by “cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, the latter of which pleaded guilty to multiple charges brought against him in December 2022 and faces up to 60 years in prison.

Ignatova, however, has managed to evade law enforcement agencies, going missing in October 2017 after a flight to Greece just 15 days after a federal warrant was issued for her arrest.

In 2014, a woman named Ruja Ignatova launched a fake cryptocurrency named "OneCoin". Despite the currency never existing, Ruja convinced people all over the world to invest. In 2017, after raking in $4 billion profit, she boarded a plane to Greece and hasn't been seen since. pic.twitter.com/DoJCfmy0Uj
— Facts - Weird & Interesting (@info_tale) March 15, 2023

In June 2022, Ignatova was added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Top Ten Most Wanted List, and a $100,000 reward is offered for information leading to her arrest.

OneCoin was exposed as a scam back in 2015 but managed to generate over $4.3 billion in revenue, with profits of nearly $3 billion, between Q4 2014 and Q4 2016 alone.

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

December 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

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.