Last November a Russian van rolled up to OneCoin’s Bulgarian headquarters.

Shortly afterwards, this happened:

Now OneCoin corporate documents are finding their way into the wild.

The year was 2016. Banks were closing OneCoin accounts all over the world and regulatory warnings were coming in thick and fast.

None of that however was enough to dissuade Pierre Arens,

Arens, supposedly an educated professional with a background in banking, international and capital markets, was negotiating the position of OneCoin CEO.

As per the “Cooperation Agreement” fleshed out between Arens and Ruja Ignatova, here are the stated “purpose(s) of agreement”:

1.1 OC is looking to implement as a priority a merchant strategy around the OneCoin virtual payment currency.

1.2 OC want sto roll out remittance services via smartphones and has initiated talks with one or several operators in this field.

1.3 OC has the intent to foster its corporate governany charter and terms of business with a view to make the company fit and proper to a partial Trade Sale or Initial Public Offering.

1.4 The Shareholder(s) of OC intend to realize the IPO or Trade Sale within a timeframe of 18-24 months.

1.5 The parties are actively working on improving reputational and marketing issues to which OC is systematically exposed, so as to willingly diminish the future value for an IPO.

Given OneCoin was a Ponzi scheme, the stated purposes are of course irrelevant from a functional perspective. Still, it’s interesting to see what Pierre Arens was willing to buy into for a pay check.

Speaking of which, the agreement pegs Arens annual salary at €750,000 EUR, paid €62,500 EUR monthly.

Arens would also receive

  • 1% of net proceeds from an IPO or sale of OneCoin and
  • a guaranteed €5 million EUR payment at the end of his contract (October 2018).

Arens first paycheck was December 2016.

From December 2016 to March 2017, Arens worked through and was paid by Sandstone SA. A Luxembourg company run by CEO Frank Schneider.

Schneider would later be outed by Konstantin Ignatov as a key figure in OneCoin’s money laundering operations.

As per the contract Arens was to be appointed CEO of OneCoin after March 14th, 2017. OneCoin however didn’t announce Arens appointment until May 2017.

In exchange for turning a blind eye to OneCoin’s $4 billion+ in financial fraud, Arens was tasked with

  • coming up with a merchant strategy;
  • coming up with a remittance services strategy and ideas for partnerships (Afrocom is cited as being in negotiations with OneCoin at the time);
  • developing operation improvement where needed … to enhance acceptance of OneCoin in the crypto and banking world, mainly in Europe;
  • defining the scope and tasks for the compliance department
  • identifying and filling gaps in (the) existing team with external resources and new hires;
  • participating actively in meeting on reputation improvement etc.;
  • developing the strategy/story on the OneCoin IPO;
  • defining a fill/kill action-list with a view of future IPO;
  • drafting a white paper (or Masterplan) for optimal timing and way to address financial markets, detailing intermediate steps and time frame;
  • discussing new products except remittances and merchant programs;
  • identifying and approaching potential take-over targets to reduce competition world and strengthen OneCoin’s positiion ahead of IPO; and
  • joining OC in the search for an external investor to take over controlling stake in OneCoin.

Interestingly enough, as per their website Afrocom

was created in 2009 to assist in promoting Russian business interests in the African continent.

OneCoin and Ruja Ignatova have always maintained they are of Bulgarian origin, albeit operating through shell companies all over the place.

Ruja Ignatova’s hope of selling off OneCoin also never materialized. As authorities closed in, Ignatova abandoned OneCoin and fled in October 2017.

That same month Pierre Arens quit his position as OneCoin CEO. This happened purportedly amidst Arens being on the verge of a mental breakdown.

To this day Arens has not publicly disclosed why he left OneCoin. Nor has he shown any remorse to the scam’s thousand of victims.

Aren’s employment contract was was signed and executed by both Arens and Ruja Igntova (on behalf of OneCoin) on December 9th, 2016.

The second leak out of OneCoin is Ruja Ignatova’s German passport.

Issued in November 2015, Ignatova’s passport is valid till 2025.

From the passport we can see Ruja Ignatova is of German nationality, was born in Russe, Bulgaria and turns forty in May.

Note that this is unlikely to be the passport Ignatova is currently using. Through her underground contacts, Ignatova is believed to have obtained multiple passports.

Not sure if there’s any more OneCoin document leaks to come. If so we’ll keep you updated.