OneCoin Scam: Lawyer Denied Retrial, Co-Founder Sentenced, Creator Still at Large
Summary:
In 2019, lawyer Mark Scott was convicted of conspiring bank fraud and money laundering in relation to the OneCoin scam. Despite a key prosecution witness admitting perjury, attempts by Scott's attorneys to secure a retrial have been thwarted by a US District Judge. Allegedly, Scott used $50 million procured from the scam to fund an extravagant lifestyle. Meanwhile, the OneCoin’s co-founder was sentenced to 20 years in prison, whereas Ruja Ignatova, creator of the fraudulent crypto scheme, remains elusive and is on FBI’s ten most wanted.
The legal representative implicated in a $400 million washout from the OneCoin scam has been refused an appeal for a retrial, even though a key witness for the prosecution gave false evidence in the 2019 trial against him. Bloomberg reported on September 18 that Mark Scott, a 54-year-old attorney, claimed ignorance of OneCoin's fraudulent activities during his involvement and contested his prosecution for facilitating a fund that funneled money for Ruja “Cryptoqueen” Ignatov, the founder of OneCoin.
Convicted for bank fraud conspiracy and money laundering in November 2019, Scott was found to have siphoned off $50 million via a deceitful fund that transferred payments and transactions from OneCoin's scheme. Since then, his lawyers have been seeking a retrial based on the wrongful submission from a government witness in the original trial.
However, a favourable verdict for a retrial was dismissed at a hearing on September 18 by US District Judge Edgardo Ramos. Despite the misleading testimony offered in the 2019 trial by Konstantin Ignatov, a government witness who confessed aiding her sister Ruja's OneCoin scam, Ramos remained unpersuaded that an innocent person might have been unjustly convicted.
Attorneys for Scott stated their intent to challenge this setback, criticising the refusal to grant a retrial given the convincing evidence that the government's key cooperating witness perjured himself.
OneCoin, introduced in 2014, branded itself as a crypto rivaling Bitcoin, but was later found to be a Ponzi scheme that attracted new investors with fictitious claims and promises of significant returns. Prosecutors argue that Scott procured a luxurious lifestyle through the $50 million from OneCoin, acquiring several million-dollar properties, luxury wristwatches, high-end cars, and a sizable yacht.
In the United States, on September 12, Ramos sentenced OneCoin’s co-founder Karl Greenwood to two decades of imprisonment following a slew of charges including fraud and money laundering.
Since October 2017, Ruja Ignatov, the initiator of a sham cryptocurrency named OneCoin, has been out of sight. Despite the currency being nonexistent, she persuaded global investors, fled to Greece in 2017 after amassing $4 billion in profits and has since disappeared. She is now among the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives.
Published At
9/19/2023 4:41:07 AM
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