Cryptoqueen’s Brother Freed After Serving 34 Months in $4 Billion OneCoin Fraud
Konstantin Ignatov, the brother of the fugitive “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova, has been freed after being sentenced to the 34 months he had already spent in jail for his involvement in the $4 billion OneCoin cryptocurrency fraud.
U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan freed Ignatov on Tuesday, according to a report by Bloomberg. The judge cited Ignatov’s cooperation with prosecutors as a key factor in the decision.
Key points:
- Konstantin Ignatov was sentenced to time served (34 months) for his involvement in the OneCoin fraud.
- Ruja Ignatova, the “Cryptoqueen” and co-founder of OneCoin, remains on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.
- Ignatov cooperated with prosecutors, including testifying against former lawyer Mark Scott, who was convicted of laundering $400 million from the fraud.
- OneCoin generated €3.4 billion in revenue from Q4 2014 to Q3 2016.
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Ignatov had previously worked as a forklift driver in Germany when his sister hired him as a personal assistant. He became the “de facto leader” of the fraudulent scheme when Ruja Ignatova disappeared in 2017.
Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, who served as the main promoters, co-founded OneCoin, which is based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Additionally, Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison in September after pleading guilty to his role in the fraud.
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Judge Ramos described OneCoin as a massive fraud with hundreds of thousands of victims. However, he acknowledged Ignatov’s cooperation with prosecutors, which led to the recommendation of a sentence of time served.
During the trial of Mark Scott, the former lawyer convicted of laundering $400 million from the OneCoin fraud, Ignatov admitted to lying on the witness stand about disposing of his laptop in a Las Vegas trash bin.Â
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OneCoin operated as a marketing network, in which members received commissions for recruiting others to purchase cryptocurrency packages.
However, the scheme had no real value, offered investors no way to trace their investments, and the cryptocurrency could not be used to purchase anything, according to U.S. authorities.
In addition to the 34 months of time served, Ignatov was sentenced to two years of supervised release and agreed to forfeit $118,000.
