OneCoin’s former lawyer Mark Scott has been found guilty of money laundering and bank fraud, after his claim that he didn’t know the $4 billion cryptocurrency was a scam didn’t convince the jury. After deliberating for just short of four hours, the jury decided that Scott knew what he was doing when he funneled some $400 million of investor funds through shell companies and foreign bank accounts that allowed top ranking members of the organization to live a life of luxury.
OK – #OneCoin jury deliberations were to start at 9:30 am but 1st, argument on Mark Scott’s lawyers’ last minute Hail Mary Inner City Press reported on last night https://t.co/8oXqRzDqeO This is what $50 million can buy you. Thread pic.twitter.com/r258DFinIo
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) November 21, 2019
Scott Likely Concealing Millions More
In discussions after the verdict, the Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Dimase revealed that Scott might be concealing bank accounts, and that the number he was able to seize or track were a “ballpark” figure. He also claimed that Scott didn’t work alone, that he was part of a “network of co-conspirators, one of whom has completed disappeared.” This refers to the OneCoin founder Dr Ruja Ignatova, whose disappearance was the subject of a top-ranking podcast from the BBC that has electrified crypto and non-crypto loving audiences worldwide. Scott is expected to appeal the verdict.
No Blockchain, No Exchange, No Leaders
The OneCoin story stands as a beacon of cryptocurrency lawlessness, topped perhaps only by the BitConnect saga, at least within the crypto community. The ‘cryptocurrency’ that has no blockchain, no exchange, and runs on a pyramid-style package selling program, began life in 2014, with Dr Ignatova selling the dream of a financial revolution based on the OneCoin currency. In reality however, the funds being raised were only lining the pockets of the founder and her inner circle, with Scott helping protect them by sending them offshore and investing in mansions across the world, luxury cars, and other assets.
OneCoin Still Operating
Incredibly, the project is still operating and selling tokens from its base in Sofia, Bulgaria, even though the founder is in hiding, the former CEO has pleaded guilty to several charges, including money laundering and fraud, and the lawyer now faces jail. The token has never hit an exchange, although the team running the token continually raise its value, a value that seems more arbitrary with every passing month and every passing guilty verdict.
