Mark Scott, the US lawyer associated with OneCoin, was convicted by a US court for his role in moving around $400 million out of the US.
Scott’s trail initiated earlier this month in the US District Court in Manhattan. He was facing two charges – one for conspiracy to commit Money Laundering and another to commit bank fraud - and was found guilty for both. He can now face jail time of up to 50 years.
US prosecutors accused the lawyer of his involvement in the laundering of $400 million, which were the proceeds from selling OneCoin to victims. This is only a fraction of the funds raised by the shady crypto scheme as, according to law enforcement, it duped investors around the world for around $4 billion.
Testimony from the Bank of Ireland staff also revealed that Scott was using multiple accounts at the bank to funnel money from the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands to the United Arab Emirates.
“OneCoin used the success story of Bitcoin to induce victims to invest under the guise that they, too, could get rich through their investments,” the state attorneys stated in a court filing.
In his defense, Scott argued that he was not aware of the fraudulent nature of OneCoin and was only doing his job for his clients. However, his arguments didn’t stand strong in a court of law.
According to the prosecutors, he made $50 million for moving OneCoin proceeds.
Masterminds crumbling apart
Meanwhile, Konstantin Ignatov, the brother of OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatov, also pleaded guilty to several charges brought in by the prosecutors, including money laundering and wire fraud.
However, the founder of the project is still at large, and, according to her brother, she fled to Vienna or Athens.
