A $40 million compensation fund has been established for victims of the $4 billion OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, the US Department of Justice announced. The scam, which operated from 2014 to 2019, defrauded up to 3.4 million investors worldwide through a global multi-level marketing network. The scheme, deemed one of the largest global frauds in history, involved the sale of a fake cryptocurrency through a network of promoters. After the scheme collapsed in 2017, the DOJ has been working to seize assets and recover proceeds for the victims.
In a statement, US Attorney Jay Clayton said the founders of OneCoin had sold a lie, resulting in losses of over $4 billion worldwide, and that the DOJ would continue to prioritize recovering assets for the victims. The compensation process comes as part of a broader effort to recover assets for users of failed cryptocurrency platforms, following the distribution of $2.2 billion to creditors by the FTX Recovery Trust.