Karl Greenwood, co-founder of OneCoin with Ruja Ignatova, was sentenced in the United States to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $300 million on Sept. 20. Ignatova remains at large.
Greenwood, who is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Sweden, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In a statement by the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called OneCoin “one of the largest fraud schemes ever perpetrated.” The multilevel marketing and Ponzi scheme reaped $4 billion from 3.5 million victims, the statement said, adding:
“In reality, unlike legitimate cryptocurrencies, OneCoin had no actual value.”
The OneCoin team compared its product to Bitcoin (BTC) in sales pitches but did not have, in the words of the Justice Department, “a true blockchain — that is, a public and verifiable blockchain,” any mining operations or even as many coins on its private blockchain as it sold.
Related: OneCoin movie starring Kate Winslet coming soon
Greenwood has been in custody since 2018, when he was extradited from Thailand. He pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and money laundering in December and could have received a sentence of up to 60 years. He is said to have made over $300 million through a 5% commission on all OneCoin sales and to have spent lavishly on luxury goods and the corresponding lifestyle.
Ignatova has not been seen since October 2017 and
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Author: Derek Andersen
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