Bulgarian Woman Sentenced to Four Years in OneCoin Crypto Fraud
A Bulgarian woman, Irina Dilkinska, has been handed a four-year prison sentence for her involvement in a large-scale fraud scheme orchestrated by the cryptocurrency company OneCoin.
Sebastian Greenwood, co-founder with Ruja Ignatova of the cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the US. According to the court, he entered into a criminal conspiracy with other individuals, including the so-called "Crypto Queen of Bulgaria", who is now on the FBI's most wanted list.
They are accused of stealing more than 4 billion US dollars from investors in a fraud first reported by the weekly publication "Capital". Tuesday's sentencing announcement said Greenwood personally pocketed about 300 million US dollars for his own personal gain and lavish lifestyle around the world. The verdict said he knew they were running a pure scam and now has to return that money to depositors.
Greenwood, 46, a citizen of Great Britain and Sweden, was arrested in Thailand in July 2018. He is among the people who started and ran OneCoin, founded in Bulgaria in 2014, pleading guilty to fraud and money laundering in December, the BBC recalls.
"In reality, unlike legitimate cryptocurrencies, OneCoin had no real value and was designed by Greenwood and Ignatova as a scam from day one," said prosecutors from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Their statement claimed that together they "managed one of the largest fraud schemes ever carried out".
"We hope this sentence of many years in prison will reverberate throughout the financial sector and deter anyone who might be tempted to lie to investors and fraudulently exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem," said US Attorney Damian Williams.
Tuesday's sentence was handed down by a federal judge in Manhattan. Prosecutors say many OneCoin victims are from the New York area. The scheme entered the US around 2015.
Follow Novinite.com on Twitter and Facebook
Write to us at editors@novinite.com
Информирайте се на Български - Novinite.bg
We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!
The Bulgarian Retail Association (BRA) sounded the alarm over a staggering increase in theft incidents across commercial establishments, marking a concerning trend for retailers nationwide
In a disturbing incident in Elena, Bulgaria, a 23-year-old man has been detained after inflicting multiple stab wounds on his 41-year-old girlfriend's head with a pair of scissors
Bulgarian customs officials intercepted a clandestine smuggling operation involving over 3,000 packs of cigarettes ingeniously concealed within loaves of bread near the Danube Bridge in Vidin
The Varna Court of Appeal has upheld a life sentence for the horrific murder of Silvia S., a woman from the Shumen village of Chernoglavtsi, marking a tragic end to a story of domestic violence that gripped the nation
Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Stoyanov finds himself embroiled in controversy after being detained by authorities for 24 hours on charges of hooliganism and threatening behavior with a weapon
In Bulgaria, a stark reality persists regarding domestic violence, as highlighted by Assoc. Dr. Aleksey Pamporov from the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Sofia Airport's Terminal 3 Construction Set to Begin in Early 2026
COVID-19 Impact: Bulgaria's Grim Milestone as Highest Death Rate in EU