OneCoin lawyer sentenced to 10 years in prison
Mark Scott, a lawyer for the OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid, was found guilty of two criminal charges.
Both are related to bank fraud and money laundering. The U.S. District Court sentenced Mark Scott to 10 years in prison. He is accused of laundering $400 million received from OneCoin.
From 2014 to 2016, the OneCoin project earned almost $4 billion. Its native token creators called it a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin (BTC) in its structure. Co-founders Ruja Ignatova, the “crypto queen,” and Carl Sebastian Greenwood promoted OneCoin through an MLM network.
Later, it turned out that the project was a financial pyramid. However, Scott’s lawyers repeated throughout the trial that their client did not know about OneCoin’s fraud.
The prosecution alleged that Scott created an investment fund to process Ignatova’s money. According to investigators, he earned $50 million for this.
During the meeting, it turned out that the OneCoin lawyer incorrectly indicated the names of clients who supported him. The indictment also alleges that Scott sold the sports car and transferred the funds to an offshore account.
The judge said that all this money should have gone to pay compensation to the victims of the pyramid. The lawyer plans to appeal the verdict. According to him, he learned about the fraud only thanks to messages on the Internet.
The former head of OneCoin’s legal department, Irina Dilkinska, could be sentenced to 10 years. She pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering. Instead of her direct duties, Dilkinska transferred funds to offshore accounts. The final sentencing date is set for February 14.
Karl Sebastian Greenwood is already in custody. Last September, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In addition, he is also required to pay $300 million in compensation to OneCoin victims.
