OneCoin Still Haunts Us – The International Consortium of Journalists released a very detailed survey this Sunday, exposing the permeability of global banks to the world. The report exposes 2,100 cases of „suspicious activity“. Among them, the Crypto Trader affair resurfaces. Various institutions have allegedly participated in this scam based on a Ponzi to transit several million dollars.
OneCoin: a global scam
Onecoin is a scam of a rare scale involving many players . In March 2019, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) condemned its founder Ruja Ignatova and many other leaders behind this fraud. In total, the loot was estimated at $ 4 billion , before the veil was lifted in 2017. Ignatova, considered the backbone of the scam , is still at large at the moment. According to an investigative journalist, the „Crypto Queen“ obtained the support and protection of an anonymous „rich and powerful“ Russian individual .
The very recent leak of FinCEN files has just resurfaced this affair by revealing new actors who participated in its deployment. More broadly, the report, published by the ICIJ, covers more than 200,000 suspicious financial transactions. The amount is estimated at 2,000 billion US dollars , collected between 1999 and 2017. These documents seem above all to demonstrate the inaction of many banks in the face of these illicit activities , despite the lack of financial information.
The involvement of diverse and influential actors
The investigation reveals the involvement of one bank in particular. In 2017, The Bank of New York Mellon made more than $ 137 million in transactions with OneCoin. In total, more than 29 transactions were detected. However, the American regulator had not intervened at the time. BNY is not the only institution involved in this affair.
In 2016, Fenero Equity Investments , an English company, reportedly moved $ 30 million to a Cayman-based bank. Fenero describes this transaction as “a loan for CryptoReal”, namely a shell company created by Ruja Ignatova herself.
In addition to shedding light on these transactions, the investigation also incriminates politics . Indeed, several emails were intercepted last year. These show the involvement of New York prosecutor Mark Scott. The man had previously been convicted of laundering $ 400 million for OneCoin. The investigation shows here the arrangement of a loan of 30 million dollars for Fenero. The loan was never repaid , and $ 10 million would have been spent directly by one of the founders of OneCoin.
The investigation of the FinCEN files brings new elements concerning the OneCoin fraud, a case which is not likely to be ended. In addition, this publication demonstrates once again the involvement of many actors and the narrow border that separates politics from finance.