OneCoin head of compliance facing 40 year sentence after US extradition

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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<div>Ripple scores 'a very big win' in SEC case</div>

Coin Telegraph

Ripple Labs was able to gain a victory against the SEC in its ongoing securities fraud case. The judge on the case denied the SEC’s motion to review certain documents that may not be material to the prosecution.

Ripple Labs has struck a blow against the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) case after the presiding judge made a ruling that one Ripple community lawyer calls “a very big win for Ripple.”

The SEC filed suit in 2020 against Ripple and executives Brad Garlinghouse and Christian Larsen for selling unregistered securities.

Presiding Judge Sarah Netburn denied the SEC’s request to reconsider shielding documents under privilege related to a June, 2018 speech made by Ripple’s then-director Willian Hinman. In the speech, Hinman said Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities.

The SEC previously did not object to those documents falling outside deliberative process privilege (DPP) protection, as it suggested they concerned only Hinman’s personal views, not Ripple policies.

The DPP exempts some documents in a case from being disclosed by the government so it can confidentially review existing policy based on the materials of the documents.

The SEC subsequently changed tack to argue the speech reflected Ripple’s policies rather than Hinman’s personal views and should be shielded.

Judge Netburn said the SEC should not contradict itself in trying to flip-flop on its assertions. In her decision, she wrote

“The SEC seeks to have it both ways, but the Speech was either intended to reflect agency policy or it was not. Having insisted that it reflected Hinman’s personal views, the SEC cannot now reject its own position.”

In summing up the critical aspects of Judge Netburn’s rejection to reconsider, a Ripple community defense lawyer with an extensive case file of financial and SEC cases James K. Filan tweeted today:

This is a very big win for Ripple.
— James K. Filan 90k+ (beware of imposters) (@FilanLaw) April 11, 2022

Another Ripple community lawyer and founder of Crypto-Law.us also tweeted today to his 191,000 followers that “The SEC is now in a hurt locker” following Judge Netburn’s ruling.

This is not just a win for @Ripple and #XRPHolders, but for the judicial system. After the March 2021 hearing, I said we were lucky to get Judge Netburn. Some of you disagree, but I still believe it. The SEC is now officially in a hurt locker. https://t.co/MuSC8ORrd2
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) April 11, 2022

Despite this seemingly important ruling, the case isn’t winding up yet and the SEC now has two weeks to appeal the decision.

Much of the crypto industry is fixated on the proceedings of this case as its outcome could spell out the future of SEC filings against crypto companies for sales of unregistered securities.

A Ripple victory could see the SEC pullback from its aggressive litigations against the crypto industry. However, if the SEC wins, the floodgates could open and lawyers familiar with crypto will have a cottage industry ready-made for them.

Sarah Netburn