Ex-OneCoin compliance head charged over alleged fraud role

OneCoin, started in 2014 in Bulgaria by Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, relied on a pyramid scheme in which members were paid for recruiting others. Its head of compliance, Irina Dilkinska, helped solicit individuals to invest in OneCoin, including in New York, and assisted in creating shell companies to launder at least $400 million in proceeds, the Department of Justice alleged in a March 21 press release.

Mark Scott, a former equity partner at Locke Lord, operated fake Cayman Islands investment funds in which Dilkinska was involved, the DOJ said. Dilkinska allegedly devised a fake company, B&N Consult EEOD, to try and hide the transfer of proceeds from OneCoin into the Cayman Islands accounts.

When Scott was arrested in 2018, Dilkinska destroyed OneCoin documents to try to hide her involvement in the crimes, the DOJ said.

Dilkinska was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. She faces up to 20 years in prison for each count.

“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,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in the Southern District of New York’s release.

Scott was convicted in November 2019 of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Greenwood pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in December. Ignatova was charged in October 2017 but remains at large.