Norwegian Gaming Board mulls going after OneCoin affiliates
When a regulator tells OneCoin or one of its shell companies to stop operating in a country, OneCoin’s standard response is “but OneCoin doesn’t operate in that country!”.
Technically OneCoin operates out of Bulgaria, through a shell Dubai incorporation. OneCoin was incorporated in Gibraltar but was kicked out late last year.
In an effort to combat the ruse of not operating in a country despite soliciting investment from thousands of local investors, the Norwegian Gaming Board has announced it is considering going after local OneCoin affiliates.
The Norwegian Gaming Board has been trying to get answers from OneCoin for some time. Upon receiving complaints about the Ponzi scheme from the general public, the Gaming Board reached out to OneCoin last April.
As of last October the regulator had yet to receive a reply.
In February the Gaming Board sought permission to attend a local OneCoin recruitment event. Upon receiving no reply, the regulator attended the March event anyway.
We got an insight into how the business is produced in Norway. It was interesting, said senior investigator Silje Amble.
Through their lawyers, OneCoin have since responded to the Gaming Board’s request for clarification the company is aware of Norway’s anti-pyramid laws.
In a response letter to the Gaming Board, which was disclosed to E24, OneCoin said they have no business in Norway.
“The companies [Onecoin and Onelife, editor.] Have no business in Norway and no plans for it,” wrote lawyer Per Danielsen in his response to the query.
Danielsen doesn’t see OneCoin paying recruitment commissions as a pyramid scheme, instead he claims it’s a “misunderstanding”.
The Gaming Board though aren’t buying it.
The Gaming Board says this is totally irrelevant for their efforts to prevent pyramid scheme operations in Norway, and their right to put the company on the spot.
“There are many such companies that operated from abroad. But having no dedicated Norwegian branch is not an obstacle for us to scrutinize a company and possibly to cease activities that are illegal in Norway”, says Amble.
The Norwegian Lotteries Act prohibits the operation of pyramid schemes, as well as promotion of them in Norway.
To meet the definition of a pyramid scheme as per The Act, a company must derive fifty percent more of its revenue from affiliates.
OneCoin’s business model has no retail component and 100% of revenue is sourced from affiliates.
To confirm the operation of a pyramid scheme, the Gaming Board asks a company to provide a revenue breakdown.
When asked if the Gaming Board had done so with OneCoin, Amble replied
So far we have not done it. But I can not respond to what we do going forward.
What happens “going forward” with OneCoin in Norway might be interesting, following reports Norwegian authorities have contacted the Gaming Board for assistance.
As per their website,
Økokrim is the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime.
Recently Økokrim sent the Norwegian Gaming Board an inquiry about OneCoin. E24 tried to find out the specifics of the inquiry but Økokrim ‘did not want to say anything about‘ it.
In general Økokrim neither confirms or denies if we are investigating a case or not.
Beyond this, we have no comments, says Økokrim senior investigator Mads mill Kleppe.
Other than acknowledging receipt of the inquiry, the Gaming Board aren’t discussing it either.
Stay tuned…
Update 30th June 2023 – OneCoin lawyer Per Danielsen has been disbarred for dishonesty.
Is there a link for the official statement? Thank you.
E24 spoke directly with the Gaming Board so no.
Legal issues for OneCoin Affiliates – when will Kevin Foster, Tom McMurrain, Sarah and Rob McGee, Janet GoGo, Bob Byrum, Joseph Piper, Joshua Kaan, Rit Kaan, Katherine Clement, Lee Oshea and Thomas H. Murrin finally understand that it’s illegal to sell unregistered securities in the USA?
Will it take legal action by regulators to finally stop this group of ponzi promoters from ripping off their family, friends and social media contacts?
Tom McMurrain, by pitching his ponzi scheme live on Facebook, is making it easier for the regulators to build their case against him and the other participants.
Ken Labine has all but stopped his social media pumping of OneCoin. He has gone from a dozen or so posts per day to only a few posts over the past week.
Is it time for Ken to finally acknowledge what so many tried to tell him? I doubt it – his type rarely has the guts to take personal responsibility for their actions.
IMO, time is running out for them. The new administration has zero tolerance for this type of activity.
It was always obvious that OneCoin was a complete fraud. 1,000 percent annual rates of return might have been a clue. Then, doubling the number of tokens without reducing the price of the coin was another.
I mean COME ON……this person from Bulgaria had the ability to magically double the value of a financial instrument with the wave of her magic wand (or click of a mouse)?
If you bought into this investment…..you are stupid. Period.
If you sold this investment for personal gain…..you are a crook. Double Period.
Hi,
Brilliant post above from MLM broken model.
The only thing I’d point out is in Onecoin you’re either a scammer or a victim – except Ken Kabime of course. Too dumb to be a real scammer – and too far in to be a victim. So just an idiot then….
Not long now till the real fun starts.
Personally I’d like to see the City of London police arrest half a dozen of these thieving scum onstage and on video. And get it on YouTube.
Preferably including the nauseating rude lump Joby Boughey !
If Norway does go after the affiliates you can bet that Rune Fjortoft will be high on their list. He’s the one who introduced it at MMG and was pimping it hard.
Funny how after all OC’s troubles started, Rune has been MIA at MMG. As the old saying goes, Rune you can run but you can’t hide.
@all – RE: “everyone is stupid”
This is definitely what I thought at first too. However, in dealing with and consoling now hundreds of victims probably, many of these were stinky caught up in the hype, fireworks, and bitcoin comparisons.
Also, remember, many were brought inn by their own friends and family and NO ONE involved in Onecoin knows a lick about either cryptocurrency or Blockchain technology.
Onecoin was sold as “the next internet” and bigger/ better than bitcoin.
What IS true, however, is that the victims were both too lazy or too mislead and brainwashed to do their Due Diligence (“people said bitcoin was a scam” and “I heard about bitcoin in 2008 [irony] but didn’t invest because I read on ‘Google’ that it was a scam….” yadda yadda).
I wept in Abbey and disgust with 3 victims specifically over the past months.
One who lives in Vegas who invested $60k but also had a big downline. She wasn’t even as concerned about her losses as that of those she convinced to join beneath her.
Likewise with Jen McAdam. She invested the $10K that her father left her and despite having 400 in her downline, I’VE WITNESSED HER SINCERE FRUSTRATION AND EVEN WEEPING.
Similarly, she’s been less concerned about herself than her own victims. What’s terrible too is that despite having a huge downline which has brought in nearly 1/4 million euro, she herself only ever realized about half of her investment in cash withdrawn.
People like Jen truly believed in it until someone from the inside, her own peer, began pleading with her to start asking questions and demanding answers.
Still a believer at the time (9 weeks ago), she began developing doubts and began asking hard questions publicly, in her groups – WHICH GOT HER KICKED OUT!
I had randomly contacted her back in November and we argued for over an hour. That was when the seed was planted though. She re-contacted me 9 weeks ago asking me to tell her again all (our) claims about fraud. THAT is when she realized for sure the truth.
Unlike EVERY other leader, Jen formed a support group. She notified the 400 people in her downline that the evidence didn’t look good at all and that there were MANY facts that the company was vehemently hiding and outright lying about.
She could have left silently like Moyn, Monir, Touhid, Ed Hartley, Marvin Sambo, Zain Khan, David Imonite (who left after just one month), Daniel Grenan, and many many more whom we simply aren’t yet aware of.
No. She started a campaign against Onecoin to bring justice for her team. So, anyone who claims that she is not honest and authentic, I’ll argue with you tooth and nail to the contrary.
Just think if more leaders (the honest ones, obviously) began such support groups and campaigns! How long do you think Onecoin would part if a dozen leaders food what Jen is doing??
Myself and or group have spent HOURS with Jen and you can’t imagine the range of emotions people in her position are going through and will go through.
In November when I told Jen that there will be suicides (unfortunately) when this is either brought down or collapses, she screamed and yelled at me and told me what an absolute jerk I was.
The other day she acknowledged that she can 100% understand that this WILL be the case and that probably a few people WILL take their own lives over this out of shame, embarrassment, and/ or financial devastation. We’re heading more and more about victims who are “all-in.” Its just absolutely disgusting!