OneCoin “cryptocurrency wizard” arrested in Thailand
Authorities in Thailand have arrested top local OneCoin promoter Mana Chu Mueang.
Mana, who refers to himself as a “cryptocurrency wizard”, is believed to have stolen over 500 million baht from OneCoin victims ($16.3 million USD).
According to Thai authorities, Mueang’s OneCoin Ponzi downline spanned “about ten countries” in Asia.
Mueang stands accused of ripping off Thai, Vietnamese, South Korean “and other foreigners”, by getting them to invest in OneCoin.
Mueang’s OneCoin pitch saw him tell potential investors they could
get good profits by investing only 200 days to get 400% immediately.
Those promises came crashing down in early 2017 after OneCoin collapsed.
OneCoin’s collapse saw Mueang go into hiding to avoid his victims, prompting them to file complaints with Thai police.
On September 4th Mueang was arrested during a football match. The match was taking place in Phichit province, central Thailand.
Several co-conspirators remain at large, however Thai authorities believe some have already fled the country.
….Let’s play a new Onecoin drinking game from here through December.
Every time a new Onecoin scammer gets arrested, DRINK!
Just kidding. It’s gonna get ridiculous pretty soon, I believe.
I’m taking a week off when they finally catch Ruja.
J/K, taking a month off.
To me it’s not anymore about Ruja I believe, it’s about catching some major players like this idiot that made millions over a short period of time.
The day we see an Igor, José or one of the Steink. brothers handcuffed being let out of a house or hotel, things might start changing fast.
If that doesn’t happen they keep moving so fast from scam to scam that justice can never catch up with them.
Who cares if they catch Ruja today or not, some idiots/scammers are still running Onecoin events even without Konstantin or her being there. They don’t need a company nor the founders. It’s the leaders you need to put in jail and publish it everywhere.
Yeah I just always figured they’d get Ruja first. Then everyone else.
Probably only ten or so people you’d need to arrest worldwide to recover most of what was stolen (sans what they’ve already squandered).
A “Joker card” in this game may be our jailbird Konstantin who has — according to DoJ documents — Power of Attorney for Ruja.
Duncan Arthur suspects that it’s fake, but if it’s indeed real, it might have implications for recovering good chunk of the ill-gotten funds.
A status conference in Konstantin’s case is on Friday, so lets see if any major news come out of it.
I have a feeling that we’ll see more klepto-currency wizards and lizards — or quite possibly even funny creatures such as The Might(il)y (Spun) Eagle and Wolves Queen — in handcuffs soon. 😉
Taking a drink when they catch Ruja? I think you’ll find that’s called teetotalism.
The only way I can see it having any relevance is if it empowers Konstantin to negotiate with the DOJ on Ruja’s behalf.
If she is still alive (big if), she could pop up at any time, revoke the POA and represent herself.
Konstantin can’t access Ruja’s funds to make restitution on his own behalf or anyone else’s.
If Ruja is dead, the POA is void and anyone seeking to make claims on her estate would have to go through her executors.
If she made him POA there’s a decent chance that is also Konstantin.
Agree.
The money flow has in majority of the cases been around 70%/30% split (70% to OneCoin HQ and 30% to upline). Therefore ~70% of the stolen funds are now “somewhere” where Ruja has hidden them.
Add to this the people who had gathered the most massive downlines (Igor, José, Steinkeller brothers and rest of the BullshitForHome “top earners” list) and you’ll probably get people who together stole over 80% of the money.
Here is the exact passage from DoJ document regarding the POA form found from Konstantin’s laptop:
As one can see, at least on the face of it, the POA form gives Konstantin very strong mandate to represent and make decisions on behalf Ruja.
I think that the clause that I bolded could even be interpreted to imply that DoJ doesn’t need to have Ruja to appear before the court, because Konstantin could do it her name. But I doubt that it would be that simple, for legal and practical reasons…
But the POA form, if it’s valid and no other legal factor complicates things, could also be a major bargaining chip for Konstantin with the prosecution.
I further speculate that if there is to be a plea deal, it involves agreement that DoJ will not press additional charges against Konstantin that are curently hanging above his head, and Konstantin’s complete surrender will include giving DoJ “keys to Ruja’s empire” as far as he can get with the POA he has.
@Semjon: I don’t normally stick my head out. If that POA is real, then Gary and I have been put through legal hell unnecessarily, Gary especially.
@Duncan Arthur
If I’m interpreting your statement correctly, and please correct me if I’m wrong, in simple terms, he had complete Authority to render payments for services, which you two allege were unpaid for the DealShaker Platform (and other services)?
I don’t know much about specifics you are referring to (beyond the issues you’ve talked about in public, such as the troublesome fees from Ruja’s $15mil London mansion that RavenR leases ) but, generally, it wouldn’t surprise me if they put you through legal hell unnecessarily, either by design or malice/incompetence/negligence.
For example, perhaps Konstantin didn’t realize the implications of the POA he had in his posession. You’ve said it yourself that “he is not that bright”.
Konstantin could have also forgotten the existence of the POA altogether — and it’s easy to forget something you don’t think is important.
Or perhaps Konstantin realized what he had in his posession but wanted to keep it secret, even at the expense of causing you unduly trouble.
It’s imaginable that he probably shielded himself — and his crime family — from all kinds of (bigger) trouble by not revealing that he had POA for Ruja.
Way back in April of 2017, Thailand announced they were launching a criminal investigation into OneCoin. This arrest is the beginnings of the charges and arrests, not only against promoters, but hopefully OneCoin officials and the company.
Wonder if Juha is starting to sweat about now, unless of course he fled the country?
@Lynn
Is Juha Parhiala sweating in his “Sharky’s Bar” in Cambodia or for his new boss Chris Principe?
share-your-photo.com/fa2c3e3e08
Well, what do you know. Cambodia has an extradition treaty with only two countries: China and Thailand.
Getting a little hot in Cambodia Juha? Don’t worry Juha, I’m sure Chris will let you stay at his house.