Co-founder of $4 billion crypto fraud scheme gets 20 yrs in jail, ‘Cryptoqueen’ companion stays at big

Co-founder of  billion crypto fraud scheme gets 20 yrs in jail, ‘Cryptoqueen’ companion stays at big


Damian Williams, the leading federal prosecutor in Manhattan, speaks at a press convention to announce the addition of “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova to the FBI’s most-preferred fugitives checklist, in New York, June 30, 2022.

Luc Cohen | Reuters

The co-founder of the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency, a substantial pyramid scheme that amassed over $4 billion from hundreds of thousands of traders throughout the world, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 many years in jail.

Karl Greenwood, 46, who orchestrated the multibillion-dollar multi-amount marketing con, pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud and income laundering prices.

His lover, Ruja Ignatova, 43, acknowledged as the “Cryptoqueen” on the FBI’s Top rated 10 Most Preferred record, stays at big, the Section of Justice reported.

Greenwood “operated one particular of the largest fraud strategies at any time perpetrated,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a push launch.

“We hope this lengthy sentence resonates in the financial sector and deters any person who may perhaps be tempted to lie to investors and exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem by fraud,” Williams mentioned.

CNBC Politics

Go through extra of CNBC’s politics coverage:

Greenwood’s sentence was imposed by federal Choose Edgardo Ramos in U.S. District Courtroom in lower Manhattan.

OneCoin, which started in Bulgaria in 2014, took in far more than $4 billion from at minimum 3.5 million folks involving 2014 and 2016, the DOJ mentioned. The scheme was marketed and marketed through a multi-degree marketing and advertising structure, which compensated fee to OneCoin customers who recruited other people to invest in crypto offers.

Greenwood, the major distributor, been given 5% of all OneCoin revenue — raking in additional than $300 million in full, the DOJ mentioned.

Both Greenwood and Ignatova regularly portrayed OneCoin as being the following Bitcoin-like crypto financial commitment opportunity. But “unlike authentic cryptocurrencies, OneCoin had no actual benefit and was conceived of by Greenwood and Ignatova as a fraud from working day 1,” the DOJ reported.

The co-founders and others lied repeatedly to their buyers, together with by saying that OneCoin’s worth was determined by marketplace forces when, in truth, its price tag was set “arbitrarily,” authorities mentioned.

Ignatova was billed in October 2017 on counts connected to fraud and money laundering. Days soon after a federal warrant was issued for her arrest, Ignatova flew from Bulgaria to Athens, Greece.

She “has not been noticed publicly because,” the DOJ reported.

The FBI is presenting a reward of up to $250,000 for facts main to Ignatova’s arrest, in accordance to her website page on the agency’s Prime 10 Most Preferred Fugitives checklist.

Her desired poster states that she is “believed to vacation with armed guards and/or associates,” and “might have experienced plastic operation or otherwise altered her visual appearance.”



Resource

State Department announces program requiring some foreign visitors to pay bonds of up to ,000
World

State Department announces program requiring some foreign visitors to pay bonds of up to $15,000

A general view of a U.S. State Department sign outside the U.S. State Department building in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 11, 2025. Annabelle Gordon | Reuters The State Department is set to launch a new pilot program later this month that will require foreign visitors planning travel to the U.S. from certain countries to post […]

Read More
Lucid softens full-year production forecast as EV maker misses second-quarter estimates
World

Lucid softens full-year production forecast as EV maker misses second-quarter estimates

A Lucid Air electric vehicle (EV) at the company’s showroom in Tysons, Virginia, US, on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images Lucid Group on Tuesday softened its production outlook for the rest of the year as it reported second-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street expectations. The electric vehicle maker now […]

Read More
Nvidia says its AI chips don’t have a ‘kill switch’ after Chinese accusation
World

Nvidia says its AI chips don’t have a ‘kill switch’ after Chinese accusation

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks to the media at a hotel in Beijing, China July 16, 2025. Alessandro Diviggiano | Reuters Nvidia on Tuesday rejected Chinese accusations that its data center GPUs for artificial intelligence include a hardware function that could remotely deactivate the chips, which is commonly called a “kill switch.” “NVIDIA GPUs do […]

Read More