OneCoin Legal Boss Irina Dilkinska Jailed

Key Takeaways

• Former head of legal and compliance of OneCoin received a four-year sentence. 
• Irina Dilkinska will also surrender $111 million as restitution.
• OneCoin’s founder is still a fugitive.

The individual who previously served as the head of legal and compliance for the multibillion-dollar OneCoin fraud scheme has received a four-year jail sentence after confessing to her involvement in laundering millions of dollars.

Irina Dilkinska, aged 42, received this sentence on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, from United States District Judge Edgardo Ramos, as reported in a statement released on April 3 by the US Attorney’s Office.

The Sentence

Alongside her four-year imprisonment, Dilkinska will also serve one month under supervised release and surrender $111 million as restitution.

According to a report from Bloomberg on April 3, Judge Ramos apparently dismissed Dilkinska’s plea to evade incarceration and return home to attend to her young children in Bulgaria.

Ramos characterized Dilkinska as “a woman of considerable intelligence who should have been aware of the ramifications of her actions” during her participation in running the $4-billion Ponzi scheme.  He said:”I fail to comprehend what hindered her from disengaging from the scheme prior to its collapse.”

Dilinska admitted guilt to wire fraud and money laundering charges in a Manhattan federal court on Nov. 10. Each charge carried a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison. This put Dilkinska at risk of a total of 10 years behind bars.

Another Lawyer Already Jailed

Dilkinsa joins the ranks of OneCoin executives serving prison time for their involvement in the fraudulent scheme.

On September 12 of the previous year, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, the co-founder of the scheme, received a 20-year prison sentence for fraud and money laundering charges, along with an order to pay $300 million in restitution.

Following a hearing on January 25, Mark Scott, a lawyer involved in laundering $400 million for the OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme, received a ten-year sentence in prison. Scott, who was convicted in 2019 on charges including bank fraud and money laundering, received his sentencing from Judge Edgardo Ramos of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Scott assumed a pivotal role in the OneCoin scam, which stands as one of the most notable in cryptocurrency history. He masterminded the laundering of substantial amounts. Scott directed them through multiple accounts in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and ultimately, the United Arab Emirates. Prosecutors emphasized Scott’s substantial profits, citing earnings of $50 million from his participation in laundering OneCoin’s funds.

Where’s The Cryptoqueen?

In 2014, “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova and Greenwood established OneCoin, offering investors guaranteed returns through a fictitious cryptocurrency named “OneCoin”.

However, it later emerged that the company lacked a functional blockchain and instead operated as a pyramid scheme. The company sustained itself by compensating investors for recruiting new buyers.

Ignatova remains fugitive since October 2017. She disappeared to Greece just 15 days after the US issued a federal warrant for her arrest. Speculations arose regarding her fate. Some also suggested she might have been killed following the murders of several OneCoin associates in Mexico in 2020.

Despite being exposed as fraudulent in 2015, OneCoin managed to amass over $4.3 billion in revenue, with profits nearing $3 billion between 2014 and 2016.