Frank Schneider’s indictment details from French extradition
Two days ago Frank Schneider lost his extradition appeal.
The decision, handed down by the Nancy Appeals Court, provides insight into Schneider’s US indictment.
Schneider (right) has been indicted on an unknown number of counts for
- conspiracy to commit electronic fraud; and
- conspiracy to launder money.
Specific acts cited in the Nancy decision include:
- Schneider providing “industrial espionage and money laundering services” to OneCoin and its principals;
- Schneider providing confidential police information to OneCoin’s principals, leading to Ruja Ignatova evading arrest; and
- assisting OneCoin’s operations through a UAE shell company incorporated in Schneider’s name.
Schneider is facing 20 years imprisonment on each count of fraud.
I’m unclear on when Schneider was initially indicted. What we do know is a superseding indictment was filed at some point, which is current as of June 4th, 2021.
Conduct detailed in the indictment relates to OneCoin, between 2014 and 2019.
Seeing as OneCoin launched in 2014, it is believed Schneider got involved around or shortly after OneCoin’s launch.
Previously it was thought Schneider was brought on later, to work as founder Ruja Ignatova’s right-hand man.
It is noted that US authorities do not name Schneider as one of OneCoin’s founders.
Quoted verbatim from the Nancy Court of Appeals decision, Schneider’s
conspiracy to commit electronic fraud is defined by the fact that “since approximately 2014 and until approximately 2019, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere … Franck
Schneider, the accused, (…) and other known and unknown individuals plotted, confederated and agreed together and with each other, willfully and knowingly to violate Title 18 of the United States Code item 1343.
Title 18, Section 1343 of the US Code pertains to “fraud by wire, radio, or television.
OneCoin’s Ponzi scheme would fall under wire fraud.
The purpose of the conspiracy was that Franck Schneider and others known and unknown individuals, deliberately and knowingly, having conceived and having intent to devise a conspiracy and artifice to defraud and to obtain money and goods under false pretexts, fraudulent representations and promises, allegedly and have transmitted and caused to be transmitted by way of communication electronic, radio or television broadcasting in interstate and foreign commerce, writings, signs, signals, images and sounds for the purpose of carrying out this conspiracy.
Namely, Schneider helped operate an international fraud conspiracy involving the sale of an alleged cryptocurrency known as OneCoin, including managing the proceeds of the conspiracy and evading police investigations into the conspiracy, in connection with which certain false statements and representations were made to solicit individuals all over the world including in the district south of New York to invest in OneCoin, thus having individuals send interstate and international transfers constituting their investments in OneCoin.
Franck Schneider (…) and others known and unknown individuals have associated, conspired, confederated and are agreed together and with each other deliberately and knowingly to committing the offense of money laundering in violation of Title 18 of the Code of United States Section 1956(a)(1)(B)(i).
Part and purpose of the conspiracy was that Mr. Franck Schneider, the accused and other individuals, knowing that the property involved in certain transactions financial institutions represented the proceeds of a form of illegal activity would have made and attempted to carry out these financial transactions which in fact involved the earnings of a particular illegal activity i.e. the proceeds of the electronics fraud conspiracy charged in the first count of this indictment, knowing that the transactions were designed in part or in whole to conceal or conceal the nature, location, source, ownership and control of earnings from the activity particularly illegal.
Part and purpose of the conspiracy was also that Franck Schneider and other known and unknown individuals are said to have and have carried, transmitted and transferred and attempted to transport, transmit and transfer a monetary instrument and funds from a place in the United States to and through a place outside the United States States knowing the monetary instrument and funds involved in this transport.
This transmission and this transfer represented the products of a form of activity illegal and knowing that this transport. this transmission and this transfer were designed in part or as a whole to conceal or conceal the nature. the place, the source, ownership and control of the proceeds of a particular illegal activity i.e. proceeds of wire fraud that are the subject of the first count of the indictment.
The indictment details conduct spanning New York, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, the island of Jersey, Georgia (the country), the UK, the UAE, Bulgaria, Germany and Tanzania.
With the exception of Luxembourg, Schneider’s money laundering for OneCoin is purportedly tied to each of the above countries.
Luxembourg is cited as Schneider’s “strategic intelligence” base of operations.
Interestingly both the US and France informed Luxembourg of Schneider’s pending arrest.
Luxembourgian authorities did not request additional information in both instances. Nor was there any indication they intended to issue an arrest warrant of their own, or file a request to have Schneider extradited to Luxembourg.
Had the US not have pursued Schneider, it appears Luxembourg was content to harbour one of the alleged masterminds of $4 billion Ponzi in plain sight.
Whether this is due to Schneider being a former Luxembourgish spymaster is unclear.
Looking forward, Schneider is expected to appeal the Nancy Court of Appeal’s decision. From the sounds of it this is a formality that will be denied.
It is then up to the French government to sign off on Schneider’s extradition. Given their cooperation with US authorities thus far, it’s anticipated there won’t be any hiccups.
Rather than potentially spend the next 40+ years in prison, there’s a high probability Schneider will cooperate with US authorities once extradited.
Seeing as he worked closely with and likely was behind Ruja Ignatova’s disappearance, there’s a chance he’ll be able to shed light on her status.
Unfortunately we don’t have a timeline for any of this. Stay tuned for updates out of France.
Update 9th June 2023 – Following the French government granting his extradition in early April, Schneider fled monitored detention in mid to late May.
French authorities claim they don’t know where he is, making Schneider a wanted fugitive.
Hang on. The US told Luxembourg that FS was going to be surprised and he went down?
Either he isn’t a good spy or a lot has changed.
Anybody know the name of this company?
Schnedier would never do it in his own name. My money is on RavenR Dubai.
Schneider has registered companies in his own name like this Montpellier Limited in UK:
find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10467032/officers
The timing of the incorporation and the overall shadiness with no filings make it likely that this is OneCoin money laundering related.
So either you are wrong as it contradicts the claim made in the court or there is something wrong with the translation. This is the original in French:
some machine translations translate this “in his name” but also
So perhaps “in its name” refers to OneCoin Limited, the sheikh Al-Qassimi’s company. Hopefully some French speaker can clarify.
BTW, regarding RavernR Dubai, I noticed that in early 2021, after being struck-off in late 2019, someone re-registered the company and liquidated it:
justpaste.it/5a5zn
So perhaps there was some funds left in it.
Wonder who did it: Ruja, Sebastian, Schneider, those Cypriot lawyers Thomas Christodoulou and Andri Andreou who control it (find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10178932/persons-with-significant-control) or someone else…
It seems there has some new developments with Al-Qassimi’s OneCoin Limited in UAE too:
Posted on October 28, 2021
&
Posted on December 5, 2021
search: “onecoin” from notices.rakicc.com/home
I guess there actions could be prompted by Jon Levy’s revelations.
I get the feeling Schneider thought he was untouchable. Probably was until he ventured outside of Luxembourg.
Frank Schneider’s recent interview by Luxembourgish Apart TV.
Don’t have any summary yet, but Schneider tries to explain his point of view of the case.
Like you could fricking explain you are innocent, even though you worked for Ruja and were a significant part of operating the biggest virtual currency scam in history.. What an a-hole. Belongs in prison and the key thrown away..
youtu.be/CwdceOooqlQ
Auto-translate definately not working on that video lol.
Di I read that correctly from the Schneider interview? He seems to have fallen for the KJ US conspiracy theory
In the first part of the interview, Frank Schneider reports in detail about his arrest. We have already read that in this article:
guykaiser.lu/een-dag-aus-dem-liewen-vum-frank-schneider-1/
Today Guy Kaiser writes:
guykaiser.lu/de-frank-schneider-a-bild-an-toun-a-mat-vill-musek-derhannert-video/
I realise that the wheels of justice turn very slowly worldwide. Nonetheless, I’m wondering why we haven’t heard anything for a while. Please can anyone clarify or provide an update?
Is it simply a case of waiting for bureaucracy to proceed or has he been “allowed” to abscond or commit suicide like Jeffrey Epstein?
You’ll have to excuse my cynicism. However, enormous sums of money and important people were/are (allegedly) implicated.
Extradition is a bit of a mystery process.
Sebastian Greenwood = extradited but wasn’t confirmed by US authorities for two years
Carlos Wanzeler = stripped of Brazilian citizenship, arrested in Brazil for extradition in 2020. Current status: ???
Johann Steinberg = ???
Frank Schneider = ???
Just one sentence, but perhaps important:
“The Prime Minister of Luxembourg still has to agree to the extradition.”
Or do the authorities in Luxembourg want to settle the existing appeal procedure in another matter before extradition?
share-your-photo.com/3d86e99c1d
wort.lu/de/lokales/frank-schneider-kann-an-usa-ausgeliefert-werden-61e8049bde135b9236a57682
I don’t get why the PM of another country has to agree to extradition of a suspected criminal, from an unrelated country to another unrelated country.
European law is unbelievably stupid sometimes.
I doubt it’s actually the case that the PM of Luxembourg has any say. I suspect some confusion has arisen as the result of translation errors.
An official of one country has no jurisdiction in another country anywhere in the world.
The only exception would be if there was a bilateral agreement covering specific scenarios.
I’m sure the US would exert it’s maximum influence to get hold of Frank Schneider in any case. Look at their persistence in getting their hands on Julian Assange.
@Ian+P.
Did you read this article from April 26, 2022?
The letter pictured, dated June 2, 2021, is strange. More than a year has passed since then and no one knows what the effect of this letter was. I don’t understand the French language but the name Frank Schneider is not mentioned!
share-your-photo.com/f125adfa3e
The owner of this website works closely with Frank Schneider. His previous articles make that clear.
guykaiser.lu/endlech-de-frank-schneider-gett-e-fall-och-fir-dpolitik/
Any updates on Zafar, the Argentinian crew being held for what seems like a long time now, that IMA in Quito who got sentenced, India or China?
@Melanie from Germany
Thanks for the additional information. I don’t understand French either. I like to think we’d have heard if Frank Schneider had been released from custody.
It looks like we’ll just have to be patient and see what transpires.
@Stevie – am also wondering about Zafar.
However, some small update in Argentina case of the 14 still held (trial is pending).
From a couple days ago: www-perfil-com.translate.goog/noticias/cordoba/requieren-elevar-a-juicio-a-14-acusados-de-onecoin.phtml?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
The Control judge, Manuel Sebastián Ayán, confirmed the trial of 14 people accused of being part of an alleged gang to carry out a pyramid scam through the alleged One Coin cryptocurrency, which was never made public. All are detained, with preventive detention.
perfil.com/noticias/cordoba/one-coin-los-acusados-por-la-falsa-cripto-mas-cerca-de-llegar-a-juicio.phtml
Today Frank Schneider’s Indictment has been unsealed.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.482287/gov.uscourts.nysd.482287.6.0.pdf
WHY NOW! Thanks for the heads up :D.
Am I missing something? That link is to Mark Scott’s indictment from 2018.
edit: I’ve got a copy of Schneider’s indictment. I want to see the end of this match and then I’ll get stuck into it.
Frank Schneider docket on CourtListener:
courtlistener.com/docket/66613749/united-states-v-scott/
Unsealed Indictment:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590573/gov.uscourts.nysd.590573.503.0.pdf
(wrong link posted earlier)
New indictment does not match up with the facts above:
Kinda working in the dark here but indictments themselves tend to be pretty straightforward.
Not always but when they are, there’s typically an accompanying memorandum that goes in greater detail. I’m assuming that’s still under seal.
Or there might have been a briefing prior to Schneider’s arrest.
Additional info is in the still sealed arrest warrant apparently.