The co-founder of OneCoin, Sebastian Greenwood pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to fraud and money laundering. While CryptoQueen is still on the run and is wanted by the FBI.
OneCoin: Karl Greenwood pleads guilty
OneCoin is a crypto that can be mined through a global MLM network (Multi Level Marketing). It was founded by Sebastian Greenwood and Ruja Ignatova aka CryptoQueen. But it was actually a scam all along. A US prosecutor even called it one of the biggest frauds ever committed.
Thinking that OneCoin would be the “ bitcoi killern”, the victims have invested more than four billion dollars in it. However, this did not have a real blockchain and therefore had no value. Moreover, the emails exchanged between the executives and the OneCoin team revealed their crypto exit strategy.
The US Department of Justice said in a communicated, on December 16, that Karl Sebastian Greenwood pleaded guilty. In Manhattan federal court, he admitted to being responsible for his participation in the massive OneCoin fraud. Indeed, he admitted to having participated in electronic fraud and money laundering operations as part of this fraudulent activity. Founded in 2014 in Bulgaria, OneCoin marketed a fraudulent crypto with the same name through an MLM.
CryptoQueen still wanted
“This is one of the largest international fraud operations ever perpetrated” said Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He added that the OneCoin case and other recent actions send a clear message that US justice will prosecute anyone who seeks to exploit the crypto ecosystem through fraud, regardless of size and sophistication.
Sebastian Greenwood was arrested in Thailand in July 2018, then extradited to the United States in October of the same year. As for Ruja Ignatova, aka CryptoQueen, she was last seen in 2017, on board a commercial flight to Athens in Greece. She is one of the FBI’s ten most wanted people.
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