Germany files charges against partners of the OneCoin crypto pyramid

On 18 October in Germany, a court hearing involved three partners of the OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid. The prosecutors charged them with money-laundering, fraud and banking offences, according to Bloomberg.

One of the defendants is a Munich-based lawyer representing the founder of the scheme, Ruja Ignatova. The publication, not naming her surname, explained that the lawyer on behalf of the client transferred €20 million ($19.7 million) to buy luxury real estate.

This is likely Martin Breidenbach. In autumn 2021, during a trial against him, it emerged that in 2016 Ignatova, through an offshore-registered company Aquitaine Group acquired a penthouse in London for £13.5m (~$18.21m at the time). In the same building, the founder of OneCoin owned an apartment worth £1.9m.

At the new hearing, prosecutors also charged a married couple. According to authorities, they processed OneCoin clients’ payments totaling €320m ($315.4m) over the course of a year.

In 2014 Ruja Ignatova, together with Sebastian Greenwood, founded the OneCoin financial pyramid. The project was initially pitched as a high-yield cryptocurrency, in which investors earned profits not only from the asset’s growth but also from recruiting new participants.

In November 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found OneCoin lawyer Mark Scott guilty of laundering nearly $400 million. Ignatova faced charges in the United States in absentia. Her whereabouts have been unknown since 2017.

In spring 2019, Konstantin Ignatov, the founder’s brother, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport. He subsequently pleaded guilty to several counts.

The U.S. government secured a postponement of Ignatov’s sentencing, saying that cooperation with him was not yet complete.

In August 2021, Italian authorities charged 14 people linked to OneCoin with aggravated fraud. According to law enforcement, through local banks in favor of the pyramid, transactions totaling about €11m were processed.

In spring 2022 Europol added Ruja Ignatova to the list of the most-wanted criminals and offered a reward of up to €5,000 for information about her.

Later, the founder of OneCoin appeared on a similar FBI list.

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