More than a decade after the OneCoin scam began, victims can now seek restitution through a $40 million fund, as announced by the US Department of Justice. The international cryptocurrency investment scheme, which defrauded up to 3.4 million investors globally, was operated by co-founders Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood between 2014 and 2019. The scheme involved marketing and selling a fraudulent cryptocurrency through a multi-level marketing network, with investors losing over $4 billion worldwide.
The operation collapsed in 2017 after it was discovered that the value of OneCoin was being artificially inflated. In recent developments, the DOJ has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of the missing 'Cryptqueen' and has vowed to continue seizing assets to compensate victims. According to US Attorney Jay Clayton, 'OneCoin's founders perpetrated a massive deception, resulting in losses of over $4 billion worldwide.' The compensation process comes as part of a broader effort to recover assets for victims of the scam, with the DOJ prioritizing the return of funds to those affected. This development follows the announcement by the FTX Recovery Trust that it would distribute $2.2 billion to creditors, as part of a larger effort to recover assets for users of the collapsed crypto trading platform.