Overview
It covers that the co-founder of the multi-billion dollar fraudulent scheme, Onecoin, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, has claimed guilty in various charges put forward by the Department of Justice, United States (DOJ), and faces a maximum of 60 years of imprisonment.
The Department of Justice declared on December 16th that Greenwood had submitted a guilty plea in a Manhattan federal court on the alleged charges of wire fraud and money laundering scheme, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Greenwood managed “one of the largest international fraud schemes ever perpetrated” and claimed that he acknowledged OneCoin as a “Bitcoin killer,” but in reality, the tokens were “entirely worthless.”
OneCoin was a Bulgarian financial company founded by Greenwood alongside “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova that marketed a cryptocurrency by the same name. However, emails obtained by the DOJ between the two before its founding in 2014 proclaim the pair called it a “trashy coin.”
Externally, OneCoin was asserted to be a multi-level marketing company with members obtaining a commission for selling cryptocurrency packages that contained OneCoin and the ability to mine more. However, OneCoin could only be exchanged for fiat currency on the private Xcoinx exchange.
Moreover, it was both a Ponzi and a pyramid scheme as investors could hire others into the scheme without an authentic product, and later the investors were being paid with money from previous investors.
According to the Department of Justice, Greenwood was obtaining around $21.2 million (€20 million) per month in his position as the “global master distributor” of the fraudulent crypto company. And over $4 billion is believed to have been conned by OneCoin from three million people who invested in those packages.
Ruja Ignatova was positioned on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s top 10 most wanted list in June for her contribution to the fraudulent scheme. However, she remained at large and was last known to have traveled to Athens, Greece, in October 2017.
Williams said Greenwood’s appeal “sends a clear message” to the DOJ that are “after all coming for those who seek to maneuver the cryptocurrency ecosystem through a scam, no matter how big or cosmopolitan you are.”
However, District Judge Edgardo Ramos condemned Greenwood to be sentenced on April 5th, 2023. And eventually, officials charged those fraudsters involved with OneCoin and Ruja Ignatova, with three associates facing charges in Germany over wire transfer fraud and money laundering.
