More than a decade after the onset of the OneCoin scam, victims are now eligible for compensation from a $40 million fund comprising seized assets, as announced by the US Department of Justice. The OneCoin scheme, which was operational from 2014 to 2019, involved co-founders Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood deceiving up to 3.4 million investors worldwide, resulting in losses of over $4 billion. This global cryptocurrency investment scam was orchestrated through a multi-level marketing network, with promoters soliciting investments in exchange for purported tokens, despite the absence of any actual cryptocurrency or blockchain presence. The scheme ultimately collapsed in 2017 due to the manipulation of OneCoin's perceived value by its founders.
Following the DOJ's offer of a $5 million reward for information on the missing Cryptqueen in June 2024, and Greenwood's admission to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges in 2022, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York emphasized the DOJ's commitment to seizing criminal proceeds and prioritizing victim compensation. This development comes on the heels of the FTX Recovery Trust's announcement to distribute $2.2 billion to creditors, marking the fourth payout under the exchange's Chapter 11 plan, which aims to recover assets for users of the defunct crypto trading platform.