Horse Racing Ireland turns blind eye to OneCoin laundering
Following Frank Schneider’s arrest in May, one of the last key figures in OneCoin’s money laundering operation still free is Amer Abdulaziz Salman.
According to former CEO Konstantin Ignatov, Salman made off with €100 million in stolen OneCoin investor funds.
That’s on top of the money Salman allegedly laundered for OneCoin through his shell company Phoenix Fund.
Banned from further profiting off laundered OneCoin funds via horse racing in three jurisdictions, Salman has found refuge in Ireland.
An investigative report by Racing Post’s Peter Scargill reveals some interesting developments over the past year.
We last checked in on Salman (right) in November 2019. At the time he was hiding out in Dubai, the MLM scam capital of the world.
Since then Salman’s racing outfit, Phoenix Thoroughbreds, has been banned from competing in the UAE, France and the UK.
Australia hasn’t gone as far as to ban Phoenix Thoroughbreds, but has banned prize money on races won.
Over the past year the Racing Post also learnt that Mark Scott had directly invested OneCoin funds into Phoenix Thoroughbreds. This was revealed by Salman’s ‘former right-hand man Tom Ludt’.
Naturally Salman denies all allegations of wrongdoing but since Mark Scott’s indictment in 2018, has failed to come clean on Phoenix Thoroughbreds’ funding.
Salman has also failed to adequately respond to enquiries from racing authorities regarding Phoenix Thoroughbreds’ source of funding. This led to the bans in UAE, France and the UK, and seizing of prize money in Australia.
Racing Post has put to Salman the same funding questions and received no answer.
Peter Scargill first reached out to Horse Racing Ireland mid 2020.
I spoke with HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh, who outlined that discussions were taking place to establish the facts around Phoenix Thoroughbreds and that a conclusion would be reached in the matter after that.
In the subsequent months, I have repeatedly asked HRI for updates on the discussions, relaying – if it did not already know – what was going on elsewhere for Phoenix and Abdulaziz.
The most recent email reply came from a spokeswoman on Friday and, like all the others, it said: “As previously stated, correspondence is ongoing with Phoenix Thoroughbreds and HRI has no further comment to make at this time.”
Scargill states HRI’s response is “not satisfactory”. He also questions what HRI has been up to for the past year.
Frankly, it looks like HRI would rather not engage with the process and hopes it all goes away.
I have to agree. As other jurisdictions have shown, it doesn’t take a year to establish Salman likely funded Phoenix Thoroughbreds with laundered OneCoin funds.
By continuing to turn a blind eye, HRI is complacent in the continued laundering of OneCoin funds through Irish horse racing.
In addition to HRI turning a blind eye to fraud, so are Salman’s Irish trainers.
Six horses have raced for Phoenix Thoroughbreds in Ireland this year, winning three races, and their trainers – Ado McGuinness and Fozzy Stack – were about as keen to speak about the situation as HRI.
“I have no comment on that,” McGuinness said when asked about the owner he has five horses for. “I don’t discuss my business with any reporter or anyone else.”
Stack added: “I have no comment on that, it’s not my business.”
It seems nobody in Ireland cares that one of OneCoin’s top money launderers is splashing funds laundered through one of the world’s largest Ponzi schemes around.
Well, at least not while there’s money to be made.
Update 15th August 2025 – Amer Abdulaziz Salman appears to have been arrested, charged and sentenced at some point.
Salman is currently listed as an inmate of Loretto FCI in Pennsylvania:
As above, Salman’s release date is October 20th, 2026.
Pending details of Salman’s criminal case being made public, BehindMLM will publish a separate article.
Wasn’t there an Irish bank involved that they fought having their employees testify at Mark Scott’s trial?
Might be connected if I remembered that correctly.
There was indeed – that would be the Bank of Ireland (not to be confused with the Central Bank of Ireland).
According to an earlier BMLM article, 3/4s of the money laundered by Mark Scott was through BOI, so a connection seems statistically likely.
The Bank of Ireland has been mentioned many times in the press:
cointelegraph.com/news/bank-of-ireland-execs-back-out-of-testifying-in-onecoin-scam-hearings
thetimes.co.uk/article/bank-of-ireland-accounts-used-to-launder-273m-in-onecoin-scam-s3qxc758g
thenextweb.com/news/bank-of-ireland-staff-back-pedal-onecoin-cryptocurrency-testimonies
irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/bank-of-ireland-deceived-by-lawyer-us-court-told-1.4040657
financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/bank-of-ireland-accounts-handled-300-million-of-onecoin-funds/
OneCoin: Bank of Ireland apparently involved in money laundering
ffdk.academy/onecoin-bank-of-ireland-offenbar-in-geldwaesche-verwickelt/
coingeek.com/bank-of-ireland-execs-to-be-questioned-on-onecoin-scam/
forexcrunch.com/three-bank-of-ireland-employees-called-upon-for-300m-onecoin-fraud-case/
independent.ie/irish-news/on-the-hunt-for-the-cryptocurrency-conwoman-who-stole-billions-39484488.html
internationalinvestment.net/news/4007056/gardai-join-hunt-missing-cryptoqueen-ill-gotten-gains
fcced.com/onecoin-ponzi-scheme-case-boi-official-testify-ius-court/
leaprate.com/cryptocurrency/scam/the-latest-update-on-the-onecoin-ponzi-scheme-who-else-was-involved/
hitechglitz.com/bank-of-ireland-employees-are-asked-to-test-300-million-in-a-onecoin-fraud-case/
investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/attorneys-seek-bank-of-ireland-execs-testimony-against-onecoin-scammer-1989213
cryptovibes.com/blog/2019/09/30/bank-of-ireland-staff-will-testify-in-court-in-relation-to-the-onecoin-fraud/
thecoinrise.com/bank-of-ireland-used-for-laundering-e273-million-crypto-scam-money/
OneCoin lawyer on trial for role in ‘crypto-scam’ – BBC News
bitcoininsider.org/article/75753/attorneys-seek-bank-ireland-execs-testimony-against-onecoin-scammer
nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2019/11/25/onecoin-crypto-scam-lawyer-found-guilty-of-worldwide-400m-fraud/
Note: The list is not complete.
If my memory serves me right the Bank of Ireland were associated with the Fenero Funds and one of the original Directors WAS Irina DIlkinska who was OCs Head of Compliance – (sic).
The Authorities in Ireland have known the irregularities involved for years but appear to be publically disinterested.
Dublin and Dubai seem to share similar values.
@Limerick lady
An old screenshot before FENERO TRADENEXT HOLDING was broken up:
share-your-photo.com/f6ade7299a
Oz, are you aware of this update?
paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/report-founder-of-big-spending-phoenix-thoroughbreds-jailed-on-money-laundering-conspiracy-charge
Reports started popping up on my feed today. I didn’t even know Amer Abdulaziz was arrested (???).
So this one is a bit weird (which OneCoin criminal case isn’t?).
Amer Abdulaziz Salman was definitely arrested at some point and is definitely being held at Loretto FCI (inmate number: 59821-509). Salman’s release date is currently October 20th, 2026.
Notably, Salman has been entered into the BOP system as “Aamer Abdulazi Salman”, which is a bit worrying.
I cannot find any verifiable information on Salman’s criminal case. I ran name searches for every possible combination and known spelling (including the BOP misspelling).
As far as I can tell Salman appears to have been indicted, arrested and sentenced completely in secret.
There is a possibility Salman’s criminal case will become public Friday or next week but, as we’ve seen in other OneCoin cases and BitClub Network, this might be all we get.
I’ll add an update documenting Salman’s BOP inmate details but will hold off reporting anything until I’ve got solid details on the criminal case.