The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted Bulgarian national Irina Dilkinska for her role in the multi-billion OneCoin scheme that defrauded over three million investors worldwide.
According to the complaint unsealed on March 21, 2023, Dilkinska served as the legal and compliance head of the firm. Instead of ensuring that OneCoin complied with the law, she helped the firm set up shell companies created for money laundering and to hold properties belonging to the wanted Crypto Queen, Ruja Ignatova.
Dilkinska Allegedly Created B&N to Launder Money
One of the shell companies includes B&N Consult EEOD, which was falsely promoted as a proprietary consulting services support and software solution to its customers. Due to the false misrepresentation, the firm generated $201 million from clients between 2015 and 2016. The funds were used to disguise the $400 million Dilkinska laundered for Mark Scott, another co-conspirator and former U.S. attorney.
“Irina Dilkinska, the supposed Head of Legal and Compliance for the OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid scheme, accomplished the exact opposite of her job title and allegedly enabled OneCoin to launder millions of dollars of illegal proceeds through shell companies. Dilkinska helped perpetuate a wide-ranging scheme with millions of victims and billions of dollars in losses. She will now face justice for her alleged crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
The 41-year-old Bulgarian woman later burnt all the incriminating documents leading to the crime after Scott was arrested and prosecuted. Dilkinska also sent text messages to the fugitive Crypto Queen, who entered the most wanted list of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last year, seeking to be connected to a lawyer.
One Count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud
Due to the severity of the crime, Dilkinska has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each offense carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.
The defendant was extradited from her home country of Bulgaria on March 21, 2023, and presented to a U.S. court the same day before New York Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.
The DOJ attributed the arrest to outstanding investigative efforts by U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the New York office of the Internal Revenue Service and Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).
Meanwhile, U.S. authorities have been cracking down on the perpetrators of the OneCoin fraudulent scheme.
In December 2022, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, a OneCoin co-founder, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges.
