More than a decade after the OneCoin scam began, victims of the $4 billion cryptocurrency fraud scheme are now eligible for compensation from a $40 million fund of seized assets, as announced by the US Department of Justice on Monday. The international cryptocurrency investment scheme, which operated between 2014 and 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. The scheme, which defrauded up to 3.4 million investors worldwide, was found to have manipulated the perceived value of the cryptocurrency through automated generation of new coins, ultimately collapsing in 2017.
Following the collapse, the DOJ has been working to seize assets and compensate victims, with US Attorney Jay Clayton stating that the founders 'sold a lie disguised as cryptocurrency, costing victims over $4 billion worldwide.' The compensation process comes as part of the DOJ's ongoing efforts to prioritize the recovery of assets for victims of the scam, with a new $5 million reward offered for information leading to the capture of the missing 'Cryptqueen' in June 2024.