OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood pleads guilty: DOJ

By Jeremy Nation • Edited by Walden Siew and Nathan Crooks
Regulation•December 16, 2022, 1:53PM EST
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OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood pleads guilty: DOJ

Quick Take

  • A guilty plea from Karl Sebastian Greenwood, co-founder of fraudulent OneCoin, is the latest turn in the multibillion-dollar fraud case.
  • The pyramid scheme resulted in more than $4 billion in losses for defrauded investors, according to officials.
  • Greenwood’s accomplice and OneCoin co-founder, Ruja Ignatova, remains a fugitive at large.

Karl Sebastian Greenwood pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering connected to the fraudulent OneCoin scheme, the Department of Justice announced.

Greenwood co-founded OneCoin along with so-called “Crypto Queen”-turned-fugitive Ruja Ignatova in 2014, after which the two perpetrated a multibillion-dollar global scam.

“Greenwood and his co-conspirators, including fugitive Ruja Ignatova, conned unsuspecting victims out of billions of dollars, claiming that OneCoin would be the ‘Bitcoin killer.’  In fact, OneCoins were entirely worthless,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.

Emails between Ignatova and Greenwood suggest a ploy to take advantage of investors. As they corresponded, the two plotted to simulate volatility and fix exchange prices. An estimate suggests victims invested over $4 billion in funds, according to the DOJ.

Ignatova, who remains on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s top 10 most wanted list, is still at large.

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