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Onecoin Cryptoqueen Associates Appears in German Court – Bitcoin News
Three people are facing trial in Germany for their roles in one of the crypto world’s most notorious scams, Onecoin. The defendants are accused of fraud, among other crimes, allegedly committed when they helped the mastermind of the pyramid scheme, ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova, who remains on the run.
Lawyer and couple face criminal charges in Germany over roles in Onecoin scam
A husband and wife as well as a lawyer from Munich are now among the first people in Europe to face criminal charges for their involvement in the Onecoin crypto scam. On Tuesday, they met in a German court, Bloomberg reported.
The three have been charged with money laundering, fraud and banking crimes related to the multi-billion dollar fraud scheme. The pyramid was founded and managed by Bulgarian-born German citizen Ruja Ignatova, nicknamed the ‘Cryptoqueen’.
The lawyer allegedly transferred 20 million euros ($19.7 million) to the Cayman Islands on behalf of Ignatova for the purchase of two London apartments for 75 million euros. The pair are charged with handling €320 million in payments from Onecoin customers within a year.
The German indictment alleges that the pyramid defrauded people by falsely claiming that Onecoin was a market-determined cryptocurrency. Investors were also told that it could be mined at a rate of 50,000 coins per minute. In the courtroom, the prosecution explained:
In reality, the ever increasing value was a fake and the mining process was only simulated by the software.
Cryptoqueen Ruja Still missing, wanted by Europe and America
Onecoin was established in 2014 and had an office in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, which was raided by police after Ruja Ignatova’s disappearance. Cryptoqueen was last seen on a Ryanair flight bound for Athens on October 25, 2017.
Ignatova is now wanted by Interpol, Europol and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for embezzling at least $4 billion from Onecoin clients. In July, Greek media revealed that Greek police had tried unsuccessfully to locate and arrest her this year, following information that she was meeting certain people.
After Ignatova disappeared from public view in late 2017, her brother Konstantin Ignatov took over, but he was later arrested in Los Angeles in 2019. Konstantin pleaded guilty and sought witness protection. In the US, Ignatova has been charged with wire and securities fraud as well as money laundering.
In August, news broke that a British national accused of money laundering and wire fraud related to the Onecoin scam, Christopher Hamilton, had lost his bid to avoid extradition to the US and would be handed over to US authorities.
At one point, the cryptopyramid claimed to have more than 3 million members around the world, and generated around €3.4 billion in revenue in less than two years of operation as a multi-level marketing network, between late 2014 and the third quarter of 2016.
Do you expect more to be charged in connection with Onecoin’s crypto pyramid scheme? Share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below.
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