Federal prosecutors in the United States have indicted Irina Dilkinska a former exco of the fake crypto scheme OneCoin for her role in the scheme. She now faces up to 40 years in prison.
On March 21, the Department of Justice charged Dilkinska, the former head of legal and compliance at OneCoin, with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering conspiracy. Each count carries a maximum possible jail term of twenty years.
Dilkinska allegedly assisted in laundering over $400 million of OneCoin’s revenues and, upon learning of a co-arrest, conspirators erased and forwarded damaging correspondence and evidence.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams pointed out the absurdity of Dilikinska’s job description in light of the nature of OneCoin, stating:
“Irina Dilkinska, the supposed Head of Legal and Compliance for the OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid scheme, accomplished the exact opposite of her job title and allegedly enabled OneCoin to launder millions of dollars of illegal proceeds through shell companies.”
The statement stated that Dilkinska was extradited from Bulgaria on March 20 and was scheduled to appear the following day before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.
Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood launched OneCoin in 2014, with the latter facing up to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to various offenses in December.
Ignatova, however, has evaded law enforcement, disappearing in October 2017 after a journey to Greece, just 15 days after a federal arrest order was issued.
Ignatova was put on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List in June 2022, and a $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to her arrest.
In spite of being exposed as a scam in 2015, OneCoin generated over $4.3 billion in sales and approximately $3 billion in profits between Q4 2014 and Q4 2016 alone.
