Karl Sebastian Greenwood, a co-founder and operator of Onecoin, has pled responsible to his half in constructing the infamous crypto pyramid. The faux cryptocurrency’s “international grasp distributor” has been in custody since 2018 when he was arrested in Thailand and extradited to the US.
Cryptoqueen’s Companion at Onecoin Admits Position in Multimillion-Greenback Fraud
Co-founder of Onecoin Karl Sebastian Greenwood pled responsible in Manhattan federal court docket to wire fraud and cash laundering costs on Friday. Because of misrepresentations made by him, the Ponzi scheme’s mastermind, ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova, and others, victims from world wide, together with the U.S., invested billions of {dollars} into the fraudulent platform.
In an announcement, the U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams identified that Greenwood, Ignatova and their co-conspirators ran Onecoin and claimed {that a} purported cryptocurrency with the identical title could be the ‘Bitcoin killer.’ In actuality, it was nugatory, was by no means mined or based mostly on blockchain, and its worth was not decided by the market however set manually.
Greenwood, a citizen of Sweden and the UK, and Bulgarian-born German nationwide Ignatova based Onecoin in 2014. It operated as a worldwide multi-level-marketing (MLM) community, the members of which had been paid commissions for recruiting others. In keeping with Onecoin’s promotional supplies and data, over 3 million individuals invested greater than $4 billion by the top of 2016.
Greenwood’s Sentencing Scheduled for April Subsequent 12 months
Ignatova, who disappeared from the general public eye in late 2017, remains to be at large and is needed by Interpol, Europol, and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which presents a $100,000 reward for info resulting in her arrest. Her brother, Konstantin, was detained in Los Angeles in 2019, pleaded responsible and sought witness safety.
In August, media stories revealed {that a} British nationwide accused of cash laundering associated to the Onecoin rip-off, Christopher Hamilton, had misplaced his bid to keep away from extradition to the US and could be handed over to U.S. authorities. In October, three Onecoin associates appeared in a German court docket to face costs of fraud and different crimes.
Greenwood, who was Onecoin’s “international grasp distributor,” was credited by Ignatova for the concept of selling and promoting the crypto by an MLM construction. District Decide Edgardo Ramos accepted his responsible plea and the sentencing is scheduled for April 5, 2023. The 45-year-old co-founder of Onecoin faces as much as 20 years in jail on every of the counts in opposition to him.
Do you count on different members of Onecoin to face costs for his or her participation within the pyramid scheme? Share your ideas on the topic within the feedback part beneath.
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