The website for OneCoin, the fraudulent cryptocurrency that has been trying to maintain a façade of legitimacy for five years despite prison sentences being handed down to participants, has been taken offline due to an alleged “legal investigation”. The revelation is the latest blow for the scheme, which has seen its founder go to ground amid suggestions of Russian mafia involvement.
The OneCoin website is OFFLINE! https://t.co/c5fI1diC5l pic.twitter.com/oiMJuHSeph
— Jamie Bartlett (@JamieJBartlett) December 2, 2019
The Final Nail in the Coffin?
The OneCoin website was the hub of its operations and was where the company continued to pedal their token, continually increasing its stated value despite having no perceptible use and no exchanges on which to base their valuations. According to pyramid scheme-busting website Behind MLM, “DNS records show that while the company still owns the website domain, it is now under investigation,” although it is not known at this stage which authority is investigating it – domain registrars EurID responded to enquiries by Behind MLM by saying that, “The domain name is under legal investigation”. Various authorities have at one time or another tried to come after OneCoin, but this has never taken the form of a website removal before.
OneLife Still Alive and Selling
The OneLife website remains online however, which still sells token packages while promoting the “financial revolution” that OneCoin will provide its holders. This financial revolution has been looking unlikely for some time, particularly since the disappearance of founder Dr Ruja Ignatova in 2017. Since then, arrest warrants have been issued for dozens of company employees and associates, with lawyer Mark Scott recently jailed for funneling $400 million on the project’s behalf and Konstantin Ignatov, former CEO and Dr Ignatova’s brother, facing jail after pleading guilty to wire fraud.
