Victims of the massive OneCoin fraud are set to receive compensation from a $40 million fund comprised of seized assets, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. This development comes more than a decade after the scheme, which defrauded up to 3.4 million investors globally, first began.
From 2014 to 2019, OneCoin Ltd., co-founded by Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, operated an international cryptocurrency investment scam. The operation, based in Sofia, Bulgaria, utilized a global multi-level-marketing network to sell a fraudulent digital currency. Investors worldwide poured over $4 billion into OneCoin, which did not involve actual cryptocurrencies and was not based on any blockchain.
The Ponzi scheme, described by the DOJ as one of history's largest global fraud schemes, collapsed in 2017. Greenwood pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in 2022. The DOJ stated it will continue efforts to seize criminal proceeds and prioritize returning funds to defrauded investors.