Karl Sebastian Greenwood, the co-founder of the phony OneCoin cryptocurrency, has been convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail by a US court.
Ruja Ignatova, also known as the “Cryptoqueen” and a member of the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list, is still at large.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), “the massive pyramid scheme amassed more than $4 billion from millions of victims worldwide,” according to CNBC, an American television program.
Greenwood, 46, “operated one of the largest fraud schemes ever perpetrated,” according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a press release.
“We hope this lengthy sentence resonates in the financial sector and deters anyone who may be tempted to lie to investors and exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem through fraud,” Williams said.
Greenwood’s sentence was handed out by federal Judge Edgardo Ramos in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
According to the DOJ, OneCoin originated in Bulgaria in 2014 and received more than $4 billion from at least 3.5 million users between 2014 and 2016.
The scheme was marketed and sold via a multilevel marketing structure that paid commissions to OneCoin members who recruited others to purchase cryptocurrency packages.
Greenwood, the top distributor, received 5% of all OneCoin sales, totaling more than $300 million, according to the DOJ.
Greenwood and Ignatova both promoted OneCoin as the next Bitcoin-like crypto investment opportunity. However, “unlike legitimate cryptocurrencies, OneCoin had no actual value and was conceived of as a fraud by Greenwood and Ignatova from day one,” according to the DOJ.
The co-founders and others regularly deceived their investors, including claiming that the value of OneCoin was determined by market forces when, in fact, its price was set “arbitrarily,” according to authorities.
Ignatova was charged with fraud and money laundering in October 2017. Ignatova flew from Bulgaria to Athens, Greece, just days after a federal warrant was issued for her arrest.
She “has not been seen publicly since,” according to the DOJ.
According to her entry on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, the FBI is offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to Ignatova’s arrest.
According to the wanted poster, she is “believed to travel with armed guards and/or associates,” and “may have had plastic surgery or otherwise altered her appearance.”
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