OneCoin head Konstantin Ignatov confront a charge of conspiracy to confide wire impostor , which could carry a maximal judgment of conviction of 20 years in prison house , while his previous sister Ruja Ignatova is at large and face several charges , include wire and securities imposter and money laundering . If convict , those tutelage could land her up to 85 days in prison . A third defendant , Mark Scott , resist accused of helping the two launder more than $ 400 million in illicit proceeds .
The DOJ write that OneCoin operated more or less as a classic Pyramids of Egypt strategy , with members being compensate direction to bring in new members and develop the connection :
OneCoin Ltd. operates as a multi - plane merchandising internet through which penis take in commissions for recruiting others to buy cryptocurrency bundle . This multi - level selling structure appear to have influenced speedy growth of the OneCoin extremity internet . Indeed , OneCoin Ltd. has claimed to have more than 3 million members worldwide , admit victim living and/or working within the Southern District of New York . OneCoin continues to go to this twenty-four hour period .
OneCoin claim that it was operating a cryptocurrency that was get through traditional “ mining”—a electronic web of computers solve complicated maths problem to process transactions and bring forth new tokens — but the DOJ write that “ the value of OneCoin is determine internally and not based on market supplying and demand ; and OneCoins are not mined using computer resource . ” ( AsQuartz take note , the operators shoot investors in part by deploy their best crypto jargon . ) The DOJ allege that between Q4 2014 and Q3 2016 alone , the scammers pulled in nearly $ 3.8 billion in transfers to OneCoin - control bank building accounts , with “ profits ” of over $ 2.5 billion . Much of the illicit earningscame from China .
In one electronic mail , the DOJ further claimed , Ignatova described a potential “ exit strategy ” : “ Take the money and flow and blame someone else for this . ”
While Ignatov was detain at Los Angeles International Airport , Ignatova has yet to be found .
[ DOJviaThe Verge ]
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