OneCoin, a cryptocurrency asset that was supposed to kill off Bitcoin (BTC) and promoted to give crypto investors more value for their investment than BTC, ended up becoming one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency scam.
The firm, founded in 2014, has been a subject of investigation since the co-founder, Ruja Ignatova, known as the Cryptoqueen fled in 2017 to avoid charges for defrauding millions of investors.
What you need to know
Karl Greenwood, the mastermind behind OneCoin’s global marketing and an associate of the Cryptoqueen, has pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud after conning the unsuspecting cryptocurrency victims.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) statement dated December 16, and obtained by Ripples Nigeria on Saturday, Greenwood also pleaded to money laundering for his role in selling OneCoin to scam investors seeking investable assets.
Recall that Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov was arrested in March 2019. He was charged with wire fraud conspiracy, and pleaded guilty to participating in the multi-billion-dollar pyramid scheme that defrauded investors out of $4 billion.
Ignatov, who indicted his sister, faces up to 90 years in prison for his involvement, but his sentencing was postponed for 90 days in November 2022.
How OneCoin founders defrauded investors
Cryptoqueen, Ignatov, and Greenwood initiated a global multi-level-marketing (MLM), similar to the strategy used by MMM (a popular pyramid scheme once operated in…
