The Southern District Court of New York sentenced Bulgarian national Irina Dilkinska to four years in prison for her involvement in the web3 initiative OneCoin and its cryptocurrency of the same name.
Dilkinska must also forfeit $111,440,000 and submit to one month of supervised release, according to a report. statement of the United States Department of Justice.
Dilkinska was responsible for legal affairs and compliance for the project, but she facilitated money laundering and other financial crimes. In one case, Dilkinska transferred $110 million in illicit proceeds from OneCoin to an entity in the Cayman Islands.
“Irina Dilkinska’s involvement in the massive OneCoin pyramid scheme constituted a blatant violation of conduct. Rather than upholding the law and accepting her position as head of legal affairs and compliance, she facilitated and committed money laundering, thereby contributing to the exploitation of millions of victims,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement released Wednesday.
Project records show it recruited more than 3 million participants, generating nearly $4.4 billion (€4.037 billion) in revenue between the fourth quarters of 2014 and 2016, the project statement added. DOJ. In total, the victims invested more than $4 billion in OneCoin.
Dilkinska’s guilty plea
In November 2023, Dilkinska pleaded guilty to charges related to wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies for his role at OneCoin, The Block previously reported.
The DOJ claims that OneCoin operated as a global multi-level marketing scheme or “pyramid scheme,” a controversial business model in which sellers earn a commission on their sales and recruit new participants.
OneCoin was founded by Ruja Ignatova, nicknamed “the Cryptoqueen”, and Karl Sebastian Greenwood. Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison and forced to pay a $300 million fine for his involvement in OneCoin and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
Ruja Ignatova has been on the FBI’s most wanted list since May 2022 and is believed to still be at large.
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