Cryptoqueen’s brother is freed after 3 years jail over OneCoin scheme: Report
The brother of Ruja “Cryptoqueen” Ignatova has been released from prison after spending 34 months behind bars for his role in OneCoin’s infamous $4.4 billion fraud scheme.
Konstantin Ignatov — once the “defacto leader” of the OneCoin sha — was handed a “time served” verdict by district court judge Edgardo Ramos on March. 5, according to a report from Bloomberg.
A "time served" verdict refers to when a court deems that a defendant has spent an adequate amount of time in jail while awaiting another sentencing hearing.
An “emotional” Ignatov took full responsibility for his actions at the hearing, according to a March 5 report by Law360.
“I can only blame myself [...] still have trouble looking into my own eyes in the mirror. The last five years were a very painful period in my life, but I’m glad for the lessons I’ve learned.”
Ignatov was, however, ordered to spend the next two years under court supervision and hand over $118,000 of the funds he made while working at OneCoin.
Ignatov was arrested in 2019 and pled guilty to money laundering and fraud charges later that year.
Igantov’s time-served verdict came following his cooperation with United States prosecutors, which saw him testify against former lawyer Mark Scott, who was convicted of laundering $400 million from the OneCoin scheme. Scott was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on Jan. 25, 2024.
In the hearing, Ramos described the OneCoin scheme as “a massive fraud with hundreds of thousands of victims,” however credited Ignatov for cooperating with prosecutors in Scott’s trial.
Related: Cryptoqueen’s OneCoin legal chief pleads guilty to fraud
Prosecutors said Ignatov became the leader of the OneCoin scam after his sister first went missing in 2017.
Ignatova’s whereabouts remain unknown and she is currently on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) “Ten Most Wanted” list. She was charged in absentia by U.S. authorities for wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.
Karl Sebastian Greenwood, one of the promoters of OneCoin, also recently received a 20-year prison sentence for fraud and money laundering.
OneCoin was a cryptocurrency ponzi scheme based in Bulgaria that raised $4.4 billion between 2014 and 2018. It promised investors outsized profits, guaranteed returns and marketed itself as a “Bitcoin killer” to lure in its would-be victims.
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