The purported compliance chief for the OneCoin crypto scheme, which turned out to be a multibillion-dollar fraud, has been sentenced to four years in prison for her role in the scheme.
According to U.S. authorities, Bulgaria-based OneCoin, which was headed by so-called crypto queen Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, sold a fraudulent cryptoasset through a global pyramid scheme that took in over US$4 billion from investors.
Previously, Irina Dilkinska, who served as head of legal and compliance for OneCoin, pled guilty in a U.S. court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“Rather than ensuring that OneCoin complied with the law, Dilkinska assisted in running its day-to-day operations and laundered money for OneCoin, including arranging for the transfer of US$110 million in fraudulently obtained OneCoin proceeds to a Cayman Islands entity,” said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), in a release.
A U.S. district court judge has now sentenced Dilkinska to four years in prison and one month of supervised release, and he ordered her to forfeit US$111.4 million.
“Irina Dilkinska’s involvement in the sprawling OneCoin pyramid scheme was a flagrant breach of conduct,” said U.S. attorney for the SDNY, Damian Williams, in a release. “Rather than upholding the law and embracing her position as the head of legal and compliance, she facilitated and committed money laundering, aiding in the exploitation of millions of victims.”