US Court Postpones Sentencing on OneCoin Co-Founder

On April 7, the Southern District Court of New York approved a motion by the US government for a later sentencing date for accomplice and co-founder of the OneCoin pyramid, Konstantin Ignatov, brother of the “crypto-Queen” Ruja Ignatova, who headed this scheme and is now on the run.

The sentencing date for Ignatov, originally set for April 8, is now postponed to July 8, 2020.

The company, founded by Ruja Ignatova in 2014, worked until the end of November 2019, despite the fact that a criminal case had already been opened. The victims claimed that the pyramid fraudulently attracted at least $4.4 billion.

In March 2019, Ignatov was arrested and pleaded guilty to fraud for several billion dollars. Now he faces up to 90 years in prison.

Ignatov was also a witness in the case of Mark Scott, who helped “launder” about $400 million.

In a petition dated April 6, the US government announced that cooperation with the Ignatov’s investigation was “not yet completed.” In addition to a request for deferment, the government intends to declassify a number of documents, the application of which Ignatov’s defense has already agreed.

Ignatov previously testified that after Rouge Ignatova disappeared, the guards accompanying her reported that she had met with some Russian-speaking people. Also, one journalist who investigated the case claims that Ignatova has a “rich and influential” Russian patron.

For now, it is difficult to say how events will develop in this matter.

Author: Marko Vidrih

Featured image credit: bbc.com