OneCoin Co-Founder Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Charges

Karl Sebastian Greenwood, the co-founder of the fraudulent crypto pyramid scheme OneCoin, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed on Friday.

The case was handled by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan federal court. Greenwood pleaded guilty to three separate charges, each with a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

However, the final sentencing of the OneCoin co-founder is to be finalized by a judge. On April 5, 2023, Judge Ramos will announce the final sentence for Greenwood.

Note that Greenwood had earlier been arrested in Thailand in July 2018. He was then moved to the U.S. to face lawsuit charges in October 2018.

What is OneCoin?

OneCoin is a cryptocurrency that was launched in 2014. Its founders are Ruja Ignatova and Karl Greenwood. The duo created the token as a fraudulent asset. As shown in private texts between the duo, they manipulated the price of the OneCoin token to attract users, while describing the OneCoin token as a “Bitcoin killer.”

The token was designed to encourage promotional schemes. Investors earned a commission by promoting OneCoin to others and getting them to invest in the asset. From its launch in 2014 until its collapse in 2017, the project garnered a total of $4 billion worth of assets from global investors.

Several entities that were closely involved in the promotion scheme went into hiding. Others are being apprehended. In September 2020, for example, a U.S. lawyer, Mark Scott, was found guilty of aiding the movement of $400 million worth of illicit funds from the OneCoin scam.

Cryptoqueen Remains at Large

Following the company’s collapse, Ignatova, also known as Cryptoqueen, was charged with fraud and money laundering charges in the U.S. on October 12, 2017. Within the same month, she disappeared and has since stayed hidden from the public.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is currently in search of Ignatova. As part of its search effort, the agency is offering a $100,000 reward to anyone who can provide information that will lead to the arrest of the Cryptoqueen. In June 2022, the FBI added Ignatova to its Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.