More than a decade after the OneCoin scam began, victims of the $4 billion fraud scheme are now eligible for compensation from a $40 million fund of seized assets, as announced by the US Department of Justice. The international cryptocurrency investment scheme, which operated from 2014 to 2019, was led by co-founders Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, and involved the sale of a fraudulent cryptocurrency through a global multi-level-marketing network. With up to 3.4 million investors defrauded worldwide, the scheme is considered one of the largest global fraud schemes in history. The DOJ has stated that it will continue to work towards seizing criminal proceeds and prioritizing the return of funds to victims.
This development comes after the collapse of the scheme in 2017, and the subsequent admission of federal wire fraud and money laundering charges by Greenwood in 2022. The compensation process is part of a broader effort to recover assets for victims of the scam, which saw investors worldwide lose over $4 billion to the fraudulent cryptocurrency.