Co-founder of OneCoin Faces 20 Years in Prison, Main Suspect Still at Large

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OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood, who was extradited back to the United States from Thailand in October 2018, is now facing progress in his lawsuit. According to an announcement from the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York on September 12th, Greenwood is being prosecuted by the Department of Justice's Cybercrime Division and could face a 20-year prison sentence along with a $300 million fine.

The announcement states that Karl Sebastian Greenwood co-founded OneCoin Ltd. in 2014. Between the fourth quarter of 2014 and the fourth quarter of 2016 alone, OneCoin made profits of over $4 billion from at least 3.5 million victims. Legal documents indicate that Greenwood conceived and sold OneCoin using a pyramid scheme structure, where OneCoin members recruiting others to purchase coins could earn commissions. Greenwood, as the top distributor, earned 5% of OneCoin's global monthly sales revenue, totaling around $300 million.

The documents also detail Greenwood's extravagant expenditures, including luxury clothing, shoes, watches amounting to $2 million, a $475,000 purchase of a Sunseeker yacht, properties in Spain, Dubai, Thailand, and travel in a private OneCoin plane.

Meanwhile, the main suspect in the OneCoin case, Ruja Ignatova, remains at large.

From the very beginning of OneCoin's establishment, Greenwood used the fame of Bitcoin to convince investors that OneCoin was an opportunity not to be missed. They emphasized Bitcoin's explosive price increases at conferences, such as citing that BTC increased 75 times in 2013, but in reality, OneCoin had no connection to blockchain technology or public chains.

The primary suspect in the OneCoin case is still Ruja Ignatova (Dr. Ruja). She herself had spoken at The Economist's summit and packaged OneCoin as a project related to blockchain technology, recruiting a large number of high-end intellectuals as members.

Ignatova was initially charged with fraud and money laundering in October 2017. She fled to Greece that same month and was listed as one of the FBI's top ten most-wanted fugitives. Earlier, Bulgarian media outlet ""Bird"" had reported that she had been murdered by a well-known local drug lord, but law enforcement agencies did not confirm this news.

The Department of Justice is still urging the public to report any information about Ignatova, and reports can be made online, at local FBI offices, or at U.S. embassies.