OneCoin: The Biggest Scam Crypto Scam Ever?

[JollyGood]

An article on the BBC website about the OneCoin scam. It is amazing that they received an estimated $4.9 billion in total funding  

Mystery of the disappearing 'Cryptoqueen' Ruja Ignatova: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49826161

Is it the biggest crypto scam if it took $4.9 billion from investors? I cannot think of any other scam that received that much funding from either crypto or fiat world.

[1714138929]

1714138929

[1714138929]

1714138929

[1714138929]

1714138929

[1714138929]

1714138929

[1714138929]

1714138929

[1714138929]

1714138929

[JollyGood]

OneCoin lawyer on trial for role in 'crypto-scam': https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50289982

The New York court trial of Mark Scott the lawyer representing Onecoin has begun. I wonder if he might try to make a deal with the prosecutors and tell them everything he knows about the co-founder of Onecoin who is Dr Ruja Ignatova. She is also known as he self-styled Cryptoqueen and has gone in to hiding.

[suchmoon]

Is it the biggest crypto scam if it took $4.9 billion from investors? I cannot think of any other scam that received that much funding from either crypto or fiat world.

Is that real billions or "XYZ amount of BTC in 2016 that would now be worth..." billions?

For example Bitconnect reached ~$500 at one point so the market cap with 10 million coins would be ~$5 billion but obviously the actual size of the scam was nowhere near that.

Still, whether its 4.9 billion or a fraction thereof, Ms Ignatova surely made enough money to pay for a citizenship in a warm country with no extradition treaty.

[tmfp]

Is it the biggest crypto scam if it took $4.9 billion from investors? I cannot think of any other scam that received that much funding from either crypto or fiat world.

Is that real billions or "XYZ amount of BTC in 2016 that would now be worth..." billions?

For example Bitconnect reached ~$500 at one point so the market cap with 10 million coins would be ~$5 billion but obviously the actual size of the scam was nowhere near that.

Still, whether its 4.9 billion or a fraction thereof, Ms Ignatova surely made enough money to pay for a citizenship in a warm country with no extradition treaty.

No, this is $4.9 billion in real fiat money, taken in payment for (plagiarized) crypto "education" material which, depending on the amount spent, came with some Onecoins, the "value" of which always increased.....
It is the biggest example of my bete noir MLM (Multi Level Marketing) schemes ever; I posted about it here back in the day but people turned up their noses at it as not a real cryptocurrency, which was exactly the point.
It's a fascinating and depressing story which will no doubt make a great film one day, and the BBC podcast series is well produced and well worth a listen.

The Cryptoqueen (she used to refer to Onecoin as the "Bitcoin Killer") is either in said warm country right now (Dubai), or the concrete footings of a Bulgarian bridge, leaving her brother as a guest of the Feds as we speak.

[JollyGood]

Is that real billions or "XYZ amount of BTC in 2016 that would now be worth..." billions?

For example Bitconnect reached ~$500 at one point so the market cap with 10 million coins would be ~$5 billion but obviously the actual size of the scam was nowhere near that.

Still, whether its 4.9 billion or a fraction thereof, Ms Ignatova surely made enough money to pay for a citizenship in a warm country with no extradition treaty.

I think in the press articles I read it implies $4.9 billion as actual funding they received from investors. Right now they say she is in hiding but things will be cleared up as time goes by.

What would be the point of having all that money if she looks over her shoulder for the rest of her life knowing she might be arrested if she is discovered.

No, this is $4.9 billion in real fiat money, taken in payment for (plagiarized) crypto "education" material which, depending on the amount spent, came with some Onecoins, the "value" of which always increased.....
It is the biggest example of my bete noir MLM (Multi Level Marketing) schemes ever; I posted about it here back in the day but people turned up their noses at it as not a real cryptocurrency, which was exactly the point.
It's a fascinating and depressing story which will no doubt make a great film one day, and the BBC podcast series is well produced and well worth a listen.

The Cryptoqueen (she used to refer to Onecoin as the "Bitcoin Killer") is either in said warm country right now (Dubai), or the concrete footings of a Bulgarian bridge, leaving her brother as a guest of the Feds as we speak.

We are talking about serious levels of criminality.

Just hiring out Wembley Arena in London to make their Onecoin announcement would have cost a lot of money so if the trail was followed I wonder where it would lead to.

There is a lot more going on but she has vanished and as you mentioned who knows if she is even alive. Maybe she has a fake identity now and is trying to live a normal life outside of the limelight or maybe something more grim may have happened.

The whole story will come out in the end but here is the Onecoin London Launch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EibrWZ-L20

[tmfp]

Anyone wanting to research or read up on this incredible story could do worse than searching https://behindmlm.com/ which has been covering this scam for over five years, going right back to its origin in Bigcoin.
They are currently reporting on the trial of Mark Scott, the money laundering lawyer mentioned in the OP, and the latest is that Konstantin Ignatova, the Cryptoqueen's brother (currently held in the US on money laundering charges himself) has turned state's evidence in that case. Both Scott's and Ignatova's defenses appear to be based on "we didn't know it was a scam".
The trial is also being live Tweeted here.

They used to do the most outrageously brazen shit, a small example was faking CMC ratings (those were the days, BTC @ $428....)

[stompix]

4.9 billion poured in a few months in a scam, bitcoin receiving pennies at that time...
One proof if we needed one more that this world is f up!

“It is a great turn-around. Somehow, I knew a day like this would come, my tears have now turned to joy. Our goal is to overtake Bitcoin and we are almost there. We are the new billionaires in town, thanks to our leader Dr. Ruja Ignatova.”

Triple facepalm!!!

I think in the press articles I read it implies $4.9 billion as actual funding they received from investors. Right now they say she is in hiding but things will be cleared up as time goes by.
What would be the point of having all that money if she looks over her shoulder for the rest of her life knowing she might be arrested if she is discovered.

I doubt anything will be cleared up more than it is already at this moment, the money is gone, the method they scammed is known, almost all the details are already known, what is left is finding her and what is left of the $. But, I doubt any will happen.
As for the second part, you will be amazed how many people will take those risks for a few hundred thousand, here we speak of millions.
Living a rich life for a few years or spend your entire life in poverty, for some the choice is obvious.

[allyouracid]

OneCoin, as bad as it was, was fascinating in its own way. From its size, it somewhat reminded me of MMM Global and BitConnect. While I have no numbers on the former one, though, OneCoin was still bigger than BitConnect.

What all three have in common is: they were an absolute plague. Especially the OneCoin ads which were literally everywhere. Also lots of real life events, "coaching" on how to get the next level suckers in. People lose their live savings, mainstream media picks it up and throws it into one pot with Bitcoin.

I wonder if there's a way to counter such scams before they really evolve. People generally need better education on this. But the question is: would it even work? Here on BCT, one of the most frequent phrases is the "If it sounds too good to be true…" one. Literally anyone here has read it. But as soon as people's greed is triggered with high expectations, the brain somehow shuts off.

[tmfp]

Just a little taster of the testimony being given today by Konstantin, Ruja Ignatova's brother.....



Courtesy of https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1192084267901345793

[logfiles]

Just a little taster of the testimony being given today by Konstantin, Ruja Ignatova's brother.....

https://talkimg.com/images/2023/07/19/naKo2.png

Courtesy of https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1192084267901345793

Damn 
Just how heartless some people can be?
How do you even go on such a spending spree knowing that you just scammed someone?

OneCoin, as bad as it was, was fascinating in its own way. From its size, it somewhat reminded me of MMM Global and BitConnect. While I have no numbers on the former one, though, OneCoin was still bigger than BitConnect.

What all three have in common is: they were an absolute plague. Especially the OneCoin ads which were literally everywhere. Also lots of real life events, "coaching" on how to get the next level suckers in. People lose their live savings, mainstream media picks it up and throws it into one pot with Bitcoin.

I wonder if there's a way to counter such scams before they really evolve. People generally need better education on this. But the question is: would it even work? Here on BCT, one of the most frequent phrases is the "If it sounds too good to be true…" one. Literally anyone here has read it. But as soon as people's greed is triggered with high expectations, the brain somehow shuts off.

Schemes like Onecoin have always thrived because of hype. To be honest, i visited one of the 3rd world countries and in one of the towns that was evidently remote, i was so surprised to see a couple of cars moving around the street advertising onecoin on speakers as the "future of money"

The Aggressive hype and marketing model made locals around to know onecoin but nobody even talked about bitcoin.

I believe if such energy was channelled towards educating people about bitcoin and certain crypto scams. I am very sure very many people would be more knowledgeable and perhaps it would also rapidly increase bitcoin's adoption.

Unfortunately the scammers are the one advertising aggressively, and they give cryptocurrencies a very bad name. After getting scammed i don't think you can go back to such communities and tell them to buy bitcoin, and they do. They will instantly say that Bitcoin is also scam.

[LeGaulois]

Thank you for reminding me of that . I didn't know OnecoinScam is still alive. It was my preferred soap opera in the crypto space. I thought it died when we proved that it had no blockchain but just a database.
Someone could really make an awesome movie from it. A lot better than Bitconnect. Look like I have a lot of things to catch up with on BehindMLM.

AUSA Folly: Who mostly set up the shell companies?
Konstantin: Irina Dilkinska.
AUSA: As a Bulgarian, what did you call those who worked on this?
Konstantin: Monkeys.
AUSA: OneCoin investors sent money to these shell companies?
Konstantin: Yes.

[JollyGood]

That image reminds me how far we have come and how much has changed in crypto-land.

And thank you for link, I will be keeping an eye on from time to time: https://twitter.com/InnerCityPress

[allyouracid]

Schemes like Onecoin have always thrived because of hype. To be honest, i visited one of the 3rd world countries and in one of the towns that was evidently remote, i was so surprised to see a couple of cars moving around the street advertising onecoin on speakers as the "future of money"

The Aggressive hype and marketing model made locals around to know onecoin but nobody even talked about bitcoin.

Wow, this is indeed interesting. A decade ago or two, I had this idea that people's proneness to get scammed (or become religious extremists) is directly correlated to the amount of desperation they suffer from. So, in a first world country where most people's lives are relatively safe, economy stable, government more or less intact etc, you'll rarely see huge amounts of religious extremists burning down the country, as well as scams like the OneCoin one.

Surely, that doesn't mean that there are no OneCoin victims in the USA, in Germany, Great Britain etc, but I think it plays on a different level. Having people tout OneCoin through speakers on a car would be a rather funny incident, here. But in countries with high desperation, such things have a higher chance for success. People just cling on things which pretend to offer "some way out" if they're desperate enough, regardless of how scammy it comes across.

[JollyGood]

4.9 billion poured in a few months in a scam, bitcoin receiving pennies at that time...
One proof if we needed one more that this world is f up!

“It is a great turn-around. Somehow, I knew a day like this would come, my tears have now turned to joy. Our goal is to overtake Bitcoin and we are almost there. We are the new billionaires in town, thanks to our leader Dr. Ruja Ignatova.”

Triple facepalm!!!

I think in the press articles I read it implies $4.9 billion as actual funding they received from investors. Right now they say she is in hiding but things will be cleared up as time goes by.
What would be the point of having all that money if she looks over her shoulder for the rest of her life knowing she might be arrested if she is discovered.

I doubt anything will be cleared up more than it is already at this moment, the money is gone, the method they scammed is known, almost all the details are already known, what is left is finding her and what is left of the $. But, I doubt any will happen.
As for the second part, you will be amazed how many people will take those risks for a few hundred thousand, here we speak of millions.
Living a rich life for a few years or spend your entire life in poverty, for some the choice is obvious.

I think it will be very difficult to hide billions of USD$. There will be a trail somewhere and the first to pounce on those funds when they are located will be the US authorities.

Looking back it is hard to belive that this trash managed to close the gap on Bitcoin to the length it did.

[JollyGood]

The BBC quoted:

"Konstantin Ignatov, the brother of "missing cryptoqueen" Dr Ruja Ignatova, has admitted his role in the OneCoin crypto-currency fraud.

Ignatov pleaded guilty to several charges, including money laundering and fraud.

Investigators believe as much as £4bn was raised globally in what is said to have amounted to a Ponzi scheme.

The Bulgaria-based organisation behind OneCoin Ltd continues to operate and denies all wrongdoing.

Ignatov was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in March."


Full story here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50417908

[tmfp]

As has been said, the current NY court case is about the innocence or guilt of Mark Scott, a fairly establishment lawyer who left the large Locke Lord law firm in order to facilitate the laundering of Onecoin funds and become fat(ter) and richer.
His defense tactics seem to be to show that
1) Scott didn't know Onecoin was a scam
2) Konstantin is an unreliable witness (because of his plea deal, he's just saying anything to prove his cooperation)

Pursuant to 1), the tactic also appears to include "Innocence by Association", the theory being that if an ex-U.S. President's brother was happy to deal with Onecoin then surely it must be legit, or reasonable for Scott to assume its legitimacy.
In a world where the current U.S. President can been seen as a career and serial fraudster this might seem to be grasping at straws.
However, it must be born in mind that this is a jury trial in the U.S. where the Bush name may still retain some respect and trust.

The day ended with Scott's lawyer Arlo Devlin-Brown of Covington arguing to get into evidence a Madagascar oil deal proposal in which Scott and his entities accused of laundering loaned money related to a Madagascar oil deal involving none other than Neil Bush, the 63-year old brother of former US President George W. Bush.

THE MADAGASCAR OIL DEAL

This goes right back to the 2014 origins of Onecoin in Bigcoin. Like in most MLM frauds, the main promoters (uplines) of Bigcoin operated under an umbrella entity, in this case called Prosper Inc.
In order to give Bigcoins some sort of utility (a free market in them was out of the question) Ruja came up with the idea of the “CryptoReal Investment Trust”

The CryptoReal Investment Trust offers Propser members, who own tokens of BigCoin, to convert the tokens into shares of the CryptoReal Investment Trust.

Bigcoin fell apart soon after, morphed temporarily into BNA, which also crashed, but the core scammers had learnt a lot and duly started Onecoin.
The CrytoReal Investment Trust gathered dust for a couple of years, then was dragged out by Ruja to be the vehicle for the purchase of "Madagascar Area 3112 Oil and Gas Field" for $60million, plus an unspecified amount of Onecoin (reported unverifiably as a token one Onecoin).

Ruja's rationale was

By using OneCoins for part of the payment, this deal also reinforces the buying appeal of our cryptocurrency. At a time when traditional fiat currencies are seeing dips or stalls, it’s reassuring to put OneCoins to use – and it’s particularly exciting to spend them in a completely different sector.

In reality, whether there was one Onecoin or one million Onecoin attached to the deal, the laundering of $60m of stolen money was the real motive behind this.
And from whom did Onecoin buy this natural resource? Enter Neil Bush, Dr. Hui Chi Ming and Hoifu Energy.

(As an aside here, when we take for granted the machinations of Multi national companies and the ways in which they operate, we forget the sometimes catastrophic effect they have on people unlucky enough to live on top of or in proximity to mineral wealth. Here's a story of a Madagascan who got chewed up and spat out by 'one of China and Madagascar’s most powerful mining billionaires.')

Neil Bush has been Executive Deputy Chairman of Hoifu for seven years (exactly, today), for which he gets paid $240k a year.
He holds many of these sinecure type positions and has extensive "contacts" (thanks to his family) thru out Asia. Wherever there's a dollar (or a million) to be made, there's a Neil Bush waiting to add "respectability".
Neil Bush has also been a completely entitled asshole and waste of space his entire life.

What's my point?
The lawyer of a lawyer accused of facilitating thieves and embezzlers points to a pond life plutocrat offspring as an example of financial probity.

Edit:
Subsequent more detailed reporting from behind a paywall and summarized in Bitcoinist

Neil Bush, son of former US President George H. W. Bush, was paid $300,000 by Ruja Ignatova for attending a meeting related to her fraudulent cryptocurrency known as OneCoin

Bush recalled that the head of Hoifu Energy, Dr. Hui Chi Ming, received a bunch of cryptocurrency for an oil deal in Madagascar. Bush had a residual interest in the cryptocurrency from the oil deal. Bush met the woman from the cryptocurrency company, Ruja Ignatova, in Hong Kong with Dr. Hui.

Hui had told the former President’s son he was entitled to 10% of the deal if Hui could sell the cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, the deal failed.

Well, he wasn't alone in not being able to sell Onecoin....



Many quotes and references taken from the excellent https://behindmlm.com.
Specific references :
https://behindmlm.com/companies/onecoin/bigcoin-bna-the-original-onecoin-ponzi-points/
http://www.innercitypress.com/sdny28onecoinignatovcrim111419.html
https://www.hoifuenergy.com/eintro.html
https://www.scribd.com/document/434747259/On-OneCoin-Cooperator-Konstantin-Ignatov-s-Plea-Agreement-for-5K1-letter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Bush#cite_note-WP-12-28-03-4
https://in.reuters.com/finance/stocks/officer-profile/0007.HK/2316596

[tmfp]

As the US lawyer Mark Scott waits to hear the jury's verdict in the money laundering case where he is accused of processing $400m of money stolen by Onecoin from its investors victims, in exchange for $50m in fees (he said that his goal was 50:50, to be worth $50m by the age of 50. He's now facing 50 years in prison)



back in Sofia, the Bulgarian Mafia Removals Company are hard at work.

[TMAN]

back in Sofia, the Bulgarian Mafia Removals Company are hard at work.

I remember walking past the shop and laughing at the shitshow.. feel bad for the losers here, that's a shit ton of new money that missed crypto as a whole

[tmfp]

I remember walking past the shop and laughing at the shitshow.. feel bad for the losers here

If you mean the losers here as in in Bulgaria, Onecoin seems to have not promoted itself there harldy at all, probably on the basis that you don't shit on your own doorstep.

that's a shit ton of new money that missed crypto as a whole

but if you mean here as in the whole shitfest, yeah I agree, especially as it's gone on for so long worldwide.

[Harlot]

As the US lawyer Mark Scott waits to hear the jury's verdict in the money laundering case where he is accused of processing $400m of money stolen by Onecoin from its investors victims, in exchange for $50m in fees (he said that his goal was 50:50, to be worth $50m by the age of 50. He's now facing 50 years in prison)

Serves him right for being an accomplice of such crime. For Mark Scott I do think he deserves the maximum punishment of 50 years since he have helped the scam to launder the money and with one of their accomplices being a key witness against them I think that their chances of getting away with their white collar crime is nearly down to zero. And it seems to me that the crackdown against OneCoin's associates and their assets is still not over yet and I don't think not one of them would escape the judicial system.