Sebastian Greenwood pleads guilty to OneCoin fraud charges
Karl Sebastian Greenwood has pled guilty to OneCoin related wire fraud and money laundering charges.
Greenwood (right) was scheduled to face trial in May 2023.
Following filing of a superseding indictment, which has not been made public, Greenwood (right) opted to plead guilty.
No plea deal was made with the DOJ.
Greenwood’s case docket has yet to update on Pacer but the DOJ has issued a press-release on Greenwood’s plea.
KARL SEBASTIAN GREENWOOD, who co-founded OneCoin with RUJA IGNATOVA, a/k/a “the Cryptoqueen,” pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to wire fraud and money laundering charges in connection with his participation in the massive OneCoin fraud scheme.
Today, District Judge Edgardo Ramos accepted GREENWOOD’s guilty plea.
As to Greenwood’s involvement in OneCoin (previously covered in his indictment);
In 2014, GREENWOOD and IGNATOVA co-founded OneCoin.
GREENWOOD was OneCoin’s “global master distributor” and the leader of the MLM network through which the fraudulent cryptocurrency was marketed and sold.
GREENWOOD earned approximately €20 million a month in his role as the top MLM distributor of OneCoin.
According to in-court reporting from Inner City Press, at his plea hearing Greenwood stated;
I met Ruja Ignatova, we started OneLife, packages including OneCoin. We mis-compared it to #Bitcoin .
But I knew OneCoin had no intrinsic value. We targeted the US and concealed the source. I knew it was wrong.
Inner City Press additionally reports Greenwood, who now sports “a thin mustache and small pony tail/bun”, is receiving counselling for a mental health issue.
In a warning to other MLM crypto Ponzi scammers, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said;
This guilty plea by the co-founder of OneCoin caps a week at SDNY that sends a clear message that we are coming after all those who seek to exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem through fraud, no matter how big or sophisticated you are.
Greenwood, 45, is facing up to 60 years in prison. Even with a sentence reduction, it is highly likely Greenwood will spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.
Greenwood’s sentencing has been scheduled for April 5th, 2023.
Update 13th September 2023 – Sebastian Greenwood has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
What a week of MLM related legal action. Merry Christmas!
It’s been a great black December this year…lol
Apparently Greenwood thinks his sentencing is going to be based on just $57,000 in victim losses.
OneCoin was a $4 billion plus Ponzi scheme he co-founded and stole up to 20 million euros a month through.
twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1603806553143775233
twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1603823702336061440
Today is a small breeze of Justice upon the wicked Sebastian Greenwood’s head for the financial havoc wreaked upon his numerous Onecoin victims.
May the Klepto Queen, herself, befall the same fate, sooner rather than later. And may the gavel fall heavily on both, during sentencing.
15 minutes of innumerable riches were traded for a self inflicted eternity of affliction.
Thanks for your indefatigable reporting Oz (and the other friends).
He has the strangest body type, he’s obese and skinny at the same time.
Skinny fat. Happens to a lot of male MLM scammers funnily enough.
Did the *trust only the official channels * from Sofia already explained the truth behind this?
How does this impact Konstantin’s usefulness as a witness?
All the One Ecosystem sites have totally ignored this revelation. They won’t comment unless pressed for one.
They are too busy listening to King Jayms 6-part philosophy mantra to be bothered to have to explain Sebastian pleading guilty and admitting OneCoin was a total farce.
Besides One Ecosystem if totally legit! (cough, cough). Just aks them.
He is still looking forward to testifying against Frank Schneider I would presume, if the fact that he perjured himself didn’t completely destroy his credibility as a witness that is.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, has published a “Superseding Information” that I can not find in Greenwood’s Pacer Docket:
justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1558436/download
Compared to the initial Indictment ( storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.535589/gov.uscourts.nysd.535589.265.0_1.pdf ) Count 4 – Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud, has been dropped.
They went from five counts of fraud in 2018 to three whenever this superseding indictment was filed.
I’m assuming dropping the two securities fraud counts was part of the plea deal. These negotiations behind the scenes explain the lengthy delays.
Similar stuff probably going on in the other unresolved cases.
As of 10:50 EST 12/19/2022 Pacer still showing last filing was 12/13/2022, nothing new in F. Schneider case either.
A small correction to Oz’s last statement. Based on InnerCity reporting, Greenwood did NOT enter into any plea agreement, hence it is highly unlikely any dealing between the parties occurred.
Based on this assumed fact and how quickly apparantly the hearing was called, Greenwood may have surprised the Govt.
I think Greenwood may have made a rather smart move by bypassing a trial and jury and bringing a rather complex legal issue in a relatively new area of law before a judge.
This is about the application of the wire fraud statute to extraterritorial conduct. Wire fraud is a domestic crime that has no extraterritorial application.
It is quite clear that he could have not prevailed arguing that OneCoin is not a fraud, but an argument that any OneCoin fraud perpetrated in the U.S.is insignificant in the global scheme may be more successful.
The Government so far has never released verifiable numbers. In the plea hearing InnerCity reported that the Govt claimed damages of tens of millions from US victims.
In any event, assuming for example it was 50,000,000 from US victims, that is still only 1% of what is estimated globally.
The major question becomes whether a U.S. Federal Judge, based on a law without international reach, can penalize a person for criminal conduct outside of the U.S. aimed at non-U.S.victims?
I don’t recall “but I only stole $X from US investors” being an issue in past MLM related wire fraud proceedings.
-TelexFree – large Brazilian and Dominican Republic investor-base
-USFIA – large amount of Chinese mainland investors
It seems to only be a OneCoin thing.
Also any plea deals appear to be unofficial negotiations unless confirmed. I probably should have specified that.
Like Schneider, Greenwood’s life is over. Pretending he’s playing 4D chess is hopeful.
Agree completely. Do the cases you cite have a much larger US proportional component? Did not have time to look them up yet.
To me it is just mind boggling that the SDNY in the last 4 years or better has never presented any concrete amount for the US fraud. The numbers they do claim are a tiny fraction of the global fraud.
Why did they take the risk of only presenting evidence of $50k from US sources during Scott trial if they had this worked out in the tens of millions or better as they now claim?
Would be scandalous if they screwed this up. Greenwood certainly hanging his hat on this issue. Any idea which additional evidence the SDNY can present in the Greenwood case?
As the plea issue, the SDNY would not drop charged in return for a guilty plea without an agreement and submitting to further argument.
TelexFree was massive in Brazil and the Dominican Republic before it took off in the US. Same with USFIA in mainland China.
Other examples if I ran a search for “wire fraud” but those two are off the top of my head.
The indictments don’t break down losses per region, which ties into it being irrelevant. As long as there’s a US connection, the founders/executives get railed on wire fraud in court and at sentencing.
Scott’s case might be different due to him being a money launderer. More of an accomplice than an executive running the show.
If that’s the case, Greenwood hoping to equate himself to Scott with respect to overall involvement in OneCoin is hilarious.
Would that agreement have to be made public. Greenwood knows he’s toast. It’s not like the DOJ are worried about him running off.
The pleadings in the dismissed Grablis case provide plenty of evidence of OneCoin dealings in the US and the promotion network and bank accounts.
As part of the conspiracy, Greenwood did not need to even set foot in the US. Additionally, his co-conspirators Armenta and Scott were based in Florida.
Given the number of US victims is in the thousands and the losses at a bare minimum in the tens of millions, he would be off the scale on the sentencing guidelines.
Best he can hope for are concurrent sentences on the various counts – unless he can deliver the Crypto Queen and those four thumbdrives with Al Qassimi’s BTC.
You have to think maybe all those instructions he was delivering from detention to his POAs and lawyers in Dubai were being monitored.
In theory this could be an “open plea” where he seeks the mercy of the court. But then he would have to show why he deserves a break.
Remember too victims under Federal law have a say in any plea bargain and sentencing and I will be watching closely for my clients.
We will be opposing anything more than the maximum unless Greenwood assists actively in getting my clients restitution from the approximate 2b in assets still out there (not counting Al Qassimi’s BTC).
I know you are a legal expert with vast U.S. and international experience. Perhaps you are correct, but I believed that the fact that Greenwood forced the need for additional briefs and oral argument indicates strongly that there is no agreement of any kind between Greenwood and the SDNY prosecutors.
Further, Greenwood’s attorney apparently made it a point to emphasize that no such agreement was made.
In any event, I don’t think Greenwood is buying much sympathy from Judge Ramos for pleading guilty but attempting to only be sentenced to a couple of months in jail and forfeiture based on $57k stemming from the U.S.
It would be great to hear your legal assessment of where this may be heading. Do you have any idea of the scope of evidence the Govt may present as part of its reply brief and during oral argument? Could this come down to a lengthy tracing exercise?
I assume Judge Ramos can only sentence Greenwood based on verifiable dollar amounts and not on educated guesses. Greenwood seems to rely on financial evidence from Scott’s trial, which Scott in turn attacked for various reasons by help of an expert.
Your further thoughts are appreciated.
Understood. I also don’t believe that Greenwood, unlike Scott, has any chance of arguing that his criminal acts are not connected to the U.S, but how does the Govt prove actual financial losses of OneCoin victims, both domestically and internationally, at this stage of the process?
Did not think of the Grablis case. I see it was dismissed at the pleading stage and no evidence was admitted.
There seemingly were also very few victims that joined the class action. Looks to me that plaintiffs’ attorneys copied largely what was available from Scott’s trial to develop causation and damages.
I do not think the SDNY will be able to use any information from that case. That case also raises jurisdictional and venue issues that are generally in play.
I have to assume that Judge Ramos will need some verifiable facts to sentence this guy appropriately and not rely on guesstimates. This may turn out much more complicated than it looks righty now.
You are over thinkihng this. As far as the amount of money stolen worldwide, they have a minimum threshold they used in Konstantin’s trial, which they pegged at $4 Billion US Dollars.
Estimates worldwide are as high as $20 Billion US Dollars. He and Ruja were partners and co-founders of OneCoin. Just as Konstantin took over when Ruja fled.
If you want to get a good picture of just how much money was stolen in the US, all you have to do is depose the following people for starters:
Bill Hartranft
Bob Byrum
Chris Principe
Denis Murdock
Ed Ludbrook
George Krum
Glenn Smith
Grant Cardone
Jim & Teri Stull
John Reilly
Larry Napier
Laurie J. Hoyt
Maurice Katz
Richard Marks
Robert Townsend
Sal Leto
Simon Lee
Steve Gotberg
Tom McMurrain
They give up how many people were in their downline, the amounts they and their downline invested, the names of their offshore accounts, and any other major leaderes I did not mention.
If they don’t cooperate, charge them criminally for their invovlement. You can bet they will give up the information to avoid prison.
Just those I mentioned are far more amounts invested that Sebastian is hanging his hat on as to how much was stolen in the US.
These people needed to be named in the class action lawsuit as they were the major promoters of OneCoin in the US. I’m sure I probably missed a few, but these are a good starting point.
Greenwood plead guilty to 4 counts of conspiracy and he is done – that means he is not in much of a position to argue the facts.
Sure he can dispute the facts in the Pre Sentence Report (PSR) but he does not get a trial on the issue and some of his co conspirators have already plead guilty and stipulated to facts. Judge Ramos will rely on the PSR and not on what an admitted quadruple felon claims.
That does not sound like a winning strategy – his only hope is to deliver up Ruja, Irina, Al Qassimi and several billions dollars worth of loot.
My point is not whether or not he is guilty. Certainly he is and said so himself.
My question is more technical. How does the Govt verifiably establish – which evidence may they introduce – the actual amount of the fraud damages caused to victims for sentencing purposes.
The SDNY can’t just throw up a number they estimate from reading the foreign press. And the person writing the PSR must on this case rely on the indictment for numbers as no trial against Greenwood ever occurred.
I think the SDNY will need to show some tracing. But I guess we all don’t know.
Surely the DoJ could come up with any number they feel like within reason? If Greenwood didn’t like that number the onus would be on him to prove why it’s wrong.
A grinning overgrown baby with a ponytail who just admitted to being guilty multiple times over and who was caught moving stolen funds behind bars will be entirely credible. Not.
That amazing amount of 15 billion was mentioned at one of his previous appearances.
Greenwood either has a Plan B or he really likes prison.
My client Christine Grablis would gladly testify at his sentencing if called.
Additionally, I believe Greenie plead guilty to international money laundering – (§ 1956(a)(2). So he his only hope is to make amends really fast with victims and the government.
I understand that she likely would want to and should. I also agree with your point on the money laundering However, my question is whether new testimony and evidence is at all allowed, or if the SDNY must rely on actually prior admitted evidence from other cases.
As to Stevie’s comment, I also agree that the SDNY will come up with something, but it still has to be verifiable somehow for sentencing purposes. The SDNY cannot conjure up an amount it cannot back up with hard facts.
That is step one. After that is accomplished, Greenwood can certainly attack the findings and methods of the SDNY’s tracing.
It may be problematic if the SDNY cannot get close to the numbers it presented in various pleadings and hearings.
Still seems to me that this could become a long arduous process of the parties, and the judge, agreeing on what is admissible.
Greenwood pleaded guilty and waived his rights. The USAO does not need to prove anything.
There is no clever defense trick involved. Any chance of mitigation is in Greenwood’s hands.
If Greenwood did not agree with the facts as plead then he should not have pleaded guilty to them.
Still no update in PACER for Greenwood, this is the last entry, all events should be reflected here –
Thanks Dr. Levy for the additional pointers.
Oz, thanks for pointing me to the other cases. I only had a chance to look up one of the cases your referenced – TelexFree – so far and unfortunately have not found any sentencing related documents that could provide clues of the methodology applied by the judge for sentencing.
However, I was surprised to see the following headline that would be most disappointing to OneCoin victims if Greenwood’s name could be substituted for Merrill’s. A similar approximate fraud amount and “only” 6 years in jail.
Below just some excerpts from reports, disclosures and press release from various U.S. Federal offices. In sum, TelexFree was much more U.S. centric than Onecoin.
It was incorporated in Massachusetts, operated from Massachusetts from where it directed foreign offices, had its various key employees there and many more verifiable U.S. victims are on record. They found a quantifiable material amount of money (including $17,000,000 in a mattress) in the U.S. as well.
U.S. Attorney Massachusetts
US Immigration
At that point, nearly one million participants lost money in the scheme, with total losses of about $1.8 billion. Overall, these victims came primarily from the United States (all 50 states), Brazil, China, Portugal, Peru, other Central and South American nations, Italy, and Russia, with smaller victim populations in dozens of other countries.
SEC
In addition to the TelexFree firms, the complaint charges TelexFree co-owner James Merrill, of Ashland, Mass., TelexFree co-owner and treasurer Carlos Wanzeler, of Northborough, Mass., TelexFree CFO Joseph H. Craft, of Boonville, Ind., and TelexFree’s international sales director, Steve Labriola, of Northbridge, Mass.
The SEC also charged four individuals who were promoters of TelexFree’s program: Sanderley Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, formerly of Revere, Mass., now of Davenport, Fla., Santiago De La Rosa, of Lynn, Mass., Randy N. Crosby, of Alpharetta, Ga., and Faith R. Sloan, of Chicago.
Except for the dollar amounts and the fraud being a Ponzi scheme, I am not convinced this case is a great roadmap for ongoing OneCoin proceedings. Except for Armenta, nobody form the U.S. involved in the wire fraud was presented.
Will also be interesting to see how SBF gets treated. Related issues.
With TelexFree how did the forfeiture orders work out?
Based on my limited research there was forfeiture and payments to victims, many of those ordered by a bankruptcy court.
Please don’t hold me to details. I was looking more for how things got to that point to analogize the OneCoin cases. TelexFree rightfully was certainly a slam dunk.
Jon, are you doing this work pro-bono?
You cannot compare one Ponzi with another. While they may deal with the same format and so-called product/service/cryptocurrency offering, they are prosecuted differently based on the laws they broke and the Prosecution believes they can receive a guilty verdict at trial.
The method by which a Receiver is appointed and how the assets they can confiscate to give back to the victims are different.
Not all Ponzi’s have a Receiver appointed by the court. The reason being one is a civil action (payment to the victims) and the other is a criminal trial where guilt is determined.
You keep trying to compare apples to oranges, and it doesn’t work that way. I am not criticizing you, just trying to explain how they really work and why you can’t compare Ponzi to Ponzi except in general terms. Hope this helped.
TelexFree started in Brazil and was run by Brazilians. Merrill was sentenced to prison but the real culprits were Wanzeler and Costa.
Having been stripped of his Brazilian citizenship, Wanzeler remains in extradition limbo.
Had OneCoin of not laundered funds through ties to the US this might be a different conversation. But they did and so here we are.
Pre-sentence recommendations are sometimes sealed, sometimes not. I don’t recall seeing procedural filings on how Judges determine sentences.
Because Ruja Ignatova is still at large, I believe what we will see will be limited.
All helpful. Thanks.
A worthless Christmas present from Sofia.
us9.campaign-archive.com/?u=cf9659fd672fe664d487e7e1b&id=ecbbab72eb
The contact details of lexia.fi
share-your-photo.com/c59806a7c9
The lawyers from Finland have done poor research. I quote:
share-your-photo.com/131a8606c1
This is definitely wrong! On oneecosystem.eu is displayed:
share-your-photo.com/9d93f17d22
How do the lawyers explain the small difference of 1.65 million members?
OneCoin and law firms… I feel like we’ve been down this road before.
Unfortunately when it comes to justice, Finland failed miserably when it came to OneCoin.
That’s on the NBI’s, Public Prosecutors’ and Finnish court’s permanent record of shame.
Normal companies have no need to produce legal opinions saying they are legal and not a scam.
Imagine Apple, Coca-Cola, Google, etc, announcing that they are legit because some paid for walk-in law firms like “Lexia” say they are.
Firstly, they wouldn’t ever need to. Secondly OneCoin, OneEcosystem, whatever you call it, is a blatant scam and the evidence is a Google away.
At this point if you believe someone as stupid and criminal as Tommi, you are stupider.
JC people. If Hogan-Lovells and Carter-Ruck couldn’t remove the stink together with Shulenburg being paid to look and sound stupid, what the f’k are Tommi and Lexia going to accomplish?
Addition to comments #39, 40 and 41.
OneCoin scammer Syed Muhammad Muzammil Gilani from Pakistan uploaded this video yesterday:
share-your-photo.com/63e6adc00f
youtube.com/watch?v=t-5UcH7_DgE
LEXIA can only interpret Finnish laws, which do not apply throughout Europe!
Example: In Germany, OneCoin has been banned since April 2017. Moreover, the Sofia fraudsters published only parts of the document without letterhead, date, file number, etc.
In a lengthy research, I found more than 800 YouTube channels promoting OneCoin. Currently, the list includes 32 pages. I am sure that the list is not yet complete.
When possible, I have mentioned the names and country of origin of the uploaders. I also noted the number of subscribers to each channel.
It was surprising for me that I found a lot of channels from Russia and Pakistan. Russian neighboring countries are also often mentioned.
Syed Muhammad Muzammil Gilani is just one of many liars and cheats from Pakistan. When the list is ready, I will add up the numbers.
If you are interested in the list, you can request it from me. Here is only a small excerpt:
share-your-photo.com/71bd7bb0f1
I wrote the list on WordPad and saved it as an rtf file.
Addition to comment #44
OneCoin scammer Erick Rueda ONE from Panama is spreading the same lie today:
share-your-photo.com/2c696589dd
youtube.com/watch?v=NejZT36IOoY
OneCoin scammer Satendra Kumar Saini from India uploaded this video today and also names the law firm Lexia from Finland:
share-your-photo.com/84c2427d91
youtube.com/watch?v=ml6G5OQdVMk
A dissatisfied IMA commented:
In Germany, we say, “Miracles take a little longer!” 🙂
Satendra Kumar Saini must be mistaken. Ruja Ignatova named Deyan Dimitov as an auditor of her (non-existent) blockchain back in May 2015.
share-your-photo.com/292427f2c3
youtube.com/watch?v=WAIKyBF4GuE
My opinion is clear. One auditor is enough! 😀
OneCoin scammer Satendra Kumar Saini from India has spread the following lie:
share-your-photo.com/600827e5c3
youtube.com/watch?v=nmfPOKmHdZo
This is wrong. There is definitely no ONE ECOSYSTEM LTD registered in the commercial register of Switzerland!
The fact is that an EcoSystemOne AG has been registered in Switzerland. This is a stock corporation, not a limited company. And who is running this company in Switzerland? The Bulgarian CEO Ventsislav Zlatkov?
No, it’s two people. The well-known OneCoin scammer Emil Blumer-Göllner (DealShaker Country Manager Switzerland and Liechtenstein) and Corinne Scheer.
share-your-photo.com/9777d3b6f4
Thus, the headquarters of the scam is still located in Sofia (Bulgaria) and not in Baar in Switzerland. With this branch in Switzerland, the Bulgarian scammers want to give the impression that they are a serious company. We know that this is not the case.
moneyhouse.ch/de/company/ecosystemone-ag-15094381051
Emil Blumer (or Emil Blumer-Göllner) from Switzerland is also the owner of the fraud portal edtswiss.ch (EagleDreamTeam Swiss).
OneCoin scammer Erick Rueda ONE from Panama spreads slogans like Adolf Hitler in April 1945.
youtube.com/watch?v=H3im0lfmauk
Addition to comment #39
A video with the same content on the channel ONEJAPAN:
youtube.com/watch?v=LdAj-TOQpkI
When are people going to learn that paying for a legal opinion in your favour is exactly that, paying?
It means nothing
Today’s newsletter:
us9.campaign-archive.com/?u=cf9659fd672fe664d487e7e1b&id=e712c0c8dd
The deadline for Greenwood’s initial brief re sentencing calculation pushed back to next Wednesday according to a memo endorsement by Judge Ramos. The letter motion by Greenwood’s attorney states in part:
I have not fully analyzed the Azeem case and don’t have the required expertise, but the following stood out to me immediately:
Maybe Greenwood’s attorney is onto something. The Court in the Azeem appeal opines that U.S. and foreign conduct should be evaluated separately and foreign conduct on foreign victims, by the same actors in related conduct outside of the U.S., may not be included in base level offense calculations.
Can’t wait for the legal experts on here to share their thoughts.
Much like addressing the mental gymnastics those still promoting OneCoin come up with to justify fraud, I’m kind of over the mental gymnastics Scott and Greenwood have come up with in the US.
Hopefully the courts make the right decision and send these scumbags to prison for the rest of their lives.
It is frustrating that Greenwood is sniffing at the chance for lighter punishment and that many countries, such as the United Kingdom, passed on the opportunity to protect and make whole their own citizens and punish him there. But must, and actually can, the U.S. now make up for such glaring failures by other governments?
What Azeem suggests (to me) makes some sense. What is the possible legal justification by the U.S. to prosecute – and for a U.S. judge to sentence – any defendant for criminal acts perpetrated on foreign persons on foreign soil for such completely foreign acts that are not directed against the U.S.?
Of course any criminal conduct directed agains the U.S. and U.S. persons must be punished. The DOJ may have, as Dr. Levy confirmed, enough evidence of OneCoin’s U.S. centric fraud that will put Greenwood away a long time and this technical legal issue will become less relevant.
Depending on whose set of figures you want to believe, but there have been claims of 30,000 US citizens in OneCoin. So US citizens were directly affected by OneCoin stealing their money, and the US Major reps holding rally’s and encouraging people to join the “Opportunity of a lifetime.”
Remember, Konstantin was arrested after his visit to Las Vegas to promote OneCoin.
No victims in the US is BS. Tom McMurrain was a major promoter from the US, as was Sal Leto, Maurice Katz, Glenn Smith, Bob Byrum, Denis Murdock (who got Konstantin to come to the US), Ed Ludbrook, Grant Cardone, John Reilly, Larry Napier, Richard Marks, Robert Townsend, Steve Gotberg naming just a few.
This is nothing more than a red herring attempt by the defense.
I don’t think Greenwood is saying there are no U.S. OneCoin victims. I understand him to say that he should be punished based only on the amount of fraud proceeds stemming from the U.S. and the number of U.S. victims.
It is up to the Govt to prove what these numbers are. Greenwood claims so far it is little that the Govt offered. That is not to say there is not more they can show.
One thing is certain, the U.S. based losses and number of victims is a fraction of what it is globally.
Does it matter that the US victims are outnumbered elsewhere? No. It doesn’t.
The US has him, they have the tools and he’s screwed. The US will prosecute you for war crimes that have nothing to do with the US. Economic terrorism should be no different.
Not trying to defend the guy. If Oz, Lynn and Dr. Levy are correct as to U.S. losses, he will get all he deserves just from counting those. But terrorism/war crimes and wire fraud are decidedly different crimes, subject to different laws with very different geographical reach.
Let’s put this in perspective. In Germany it is estimated that there were 25,000 investors. They lost well beyond 400 million euro ($424 million USD).
In the US it is estimated that there were 30,000 investors. Using Germany as an example, this means the losses in the US would have exceeded $600 Million USD.
So if Sebastian beleives that he should not have been responsible for the small amount of money US investors lost compared to other countries, then why didn’t Konstantin’s lawyers argue the same?
It makes no difference how little or how much US investors lost. It only takes one to be charged in the US. Remember, Ruja and Sebastian said over and over and over that OneCoin never entered any country to do business unless it was properly registered to do so.
Now all of this was a lie, but the gullible bought it because they and the Ponzi pimps piimped it big time it was true. They were never registered to do business in any country where they were doing business.
Heck they didn’t even have bank accounts in OneCoin’s name. They used shell companies on their bank accounts to deceive the banks as to whom they were really doing business with.
I realize that you are not defending him, but as I said, this is nothing more than a red herring attempt to reduce the sentence he will receive.
Unfortunately Dr Levy has conclusively proved a link to terror financing with OneCoin.
Terrorism and organised crime – including war crimes – can’t happen without wire fraud.
OneCoin money is blood money.
CNN named a sum.
edition.cnn.com/2023/01/22/business/ruja-ignatova-cryptoqueen-fbi-most-wanted-cec/index.html
If $ 50 million is a “fraction”; some people have some explaining to do.
If there were no victims in the US, FBI would NOT have put Ruja’s name on the FBI’s Top Ten Wanted since mid 2022.
NOLINKs://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/ruja-ignatova
See the Madoff documentary on Netflix for Ponzi and the “Clawbacks”… there are a lot of people who should have their lives clawed back in the USA. Could be quite a show.
Yeah, but Madoff kinda turned himself in (or at least, his son turned him in). We haven’t caught Ruja yet.
Madoff’s sons HAD to turn him in…the jig was up and Madoff had confessed to them; they’d be accomplices after the fact.
It was so similar to OneCoin, just didn’t have the technology back then. Phony accounts, it looked real, people got paid so kept their money in/re-invested.
I saw how it worked and the Madoff program sure reminded me of OneCoin.
Has anyone read the filing by Greenwood from last night? I am surprised how strong and long established the case law and policies in favor of his argument – that he can’t be sentenced in the U.S. for foreign crimes – actually is.
The precedent in the Second Circuit confirms that base level sentencing calculations (for crimes without extraterritorial reach) can only consider crimes committed in the U.S. or against the U.S. or it’s citizens. Wire fraud is a purely domestic crime.
How were the prosecutors not aware of this critical issue? Why prosecute someone for global conduct when you can’t punish them for it?
Perhaps a $4 billion fraud garners more attention than let’s say one of $50 million, which is a rather average white collar crime in the Southern District of New York.
Before everyone goes off on me, again, U.S. conduct in the Greenwood case may be plenty to sentence him severely. But it seems that the significance of the OneCoin cases in the U.S. may shrink quite a bit if all this holds true.
At the end of the day, the U.S. losses the Govt may be able to prove will be a mere fraction of the billions of worldwide fraud that was perpetrated.
Best to wait for the final outcome before swinging either way in pre-sentencing arguments.
Agreed. I was just surprised to see ample legal precedent that provides strong support for Greenwood’s argument.
Again, why did the prosecutors not add a charge against Greenwood that has more of a foreign reach? Not so important for Armenta as an example. He worked from his offices in Florida, had domestic bank accounts and staff.
This scenario presents a much better argument that all he did abroad should be counted as a direct result of his domestic acts.
Looking forward to Dr. Levy possibly commenting on this issue.
A lengthy Memorandum in Opposition to Motion has been submitted by the Government
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.535589/gov.uscourts.nysd.535589.519.0_1.pdf
LOL, bold added.
A German MLM magazine writes today:
share-your-photo.com/fb12c048d8
The article also mentions that Dubai is now a stronghold for MLM criminals.
direct-selling-magazine.de/onecoin-ponzibetrueger-sebastian-greenwood-drohen-bis-zu-60-jahre-haft/
Can we expect sanctions against UAE or at least some sort of action by the US authorities anytime soon? or Do we have to find Dubai Scammers financing the War in Ukraine in order to see that?
I don’t know what’ll take for a Dubai crackdown.
White collar crime typically isn’t at the forefront of people’s minds.
The U.S. has no right to impose sanctions, or any action, against another country due to that country’s inaction of prosecuting crimes within that countries borders.
There are no U.S. interests involved. This ideas of the U.S. imposing its will on another sovereignty relating to its position on OneCoin are absurd. The U.S. does not rule the world.
And by the way, seemingly it is amongst the major countries with the smallest OneCoin fraud numbers. DOJ keeps on “estimating” numbers and providing no backup to its claims.
The Greenwood process will provide some clarity hopefully.
No. The “Greenwood process” will provide f’k all.
You use the US financial system, you market in the US, you price anything in US$, they own you.
God Bless America. Because nobody else was going to shut this down.
The DoJ doesn’t have to do anything. This is a RICO charge
Behindmlmchecker…
You are technically asking for a departure from US jurisprudence that would allow forgetting every set of precedent since RICO, The Patriot Act, the foundation of FATF, etc. That is not going to happen
UAE deserves sanctions for harboring so many international criminals, in my opinion.
Seems like Dubai would be a very dangerous place to live if many of your neighbors in your luxe highrise are scammers and drug kingpins, all wanted for crimes in their home countries.
Wouldn’t it be a matter of time until they set their sites on you, or started victimizing each other? If lots of crime is occurring there, it doesn’t seem like a transparent place that would admit to such statistics.
Not sure why any country would turn itself into a no mans land for sophisticated criminals. It’s all fun and games until suddenly you’re the victim. Couldn’t organized crime seize control eventually? All the above is just opinion, of course.
If you’re referring to Dubai, which is who we were discussing, then the emirate harbors a large number of US national white collar scammers.
The emirate also houses and continues to house a rotating cast of foreign scammers who routinely defraud US consumers.
I don’t disagree with any of your comments. It is despicable. However, neither U.S. jurisprudence or international laws give the U.S. Government the power to penalize other “countries” for not agreeing to prosecute foreign persons resident in these countries, just because the U.S. would like to see them locked up.
That’s for example why treaties between the U.S. and other countries are required to extradite criminals the U.S. wants to prosecute based on RICO and other statutes with international reach.
The long legal arm of the U.S. to reach non U.S. persons in foreign countries is based on voluntary agreements.
At least not officially.
Minor update, Greenwood’s “only US crime” issue is set for oral argument on April 4th.
Briefings are complete, unless the SDNY prosecutors want to initiate another round and ask the judge for the opportunity to file a sur-reply. At this point he would likely defer them to make any further arguments at the oral argument scheduled for April 4th.
Based on the briefs alone, I believe the SDNY prosecutors will lose this first phase of Greenwood’s sentencing process.
The law and precedent in the 2nd Circuit seem to strongly support Greenwood’s position that only domestic conduct may serve as a basis to calculate base offense levels for violations of domestic criminal statutes.
That’s not to say the SDNY does not have enough to put him away for a long time based purely on domestic loss numbers. However, the SDNY so far, by its own admission, is only “estimating” the claimed U.S. loss amounts and victim numbers it claims.
How can they not have anything more concrete after years of investigations?
OneCoin blocked any IP from the US from even visiting their website. All the US participants were told to use a VPN and set up an offshore bank account.
Because the vast majority of US members used offshore accounts, used fake names or monikers it is difficult for the US authorities to get an accurate number of members and amounts they invested into OneCoin.
For an investigation to begin there has to be victims filing complaints. In OneCoin the vast majority of victims, no matter what country there were from, would not file a complaint. The same was true here in the US. No complaints, no crime.
So far not one of those arrested have been charged with violating US Securities laws and action taken by the SEC. They have all been criminally charged with wire fraud or bank wire fraud and money laundering.
IF US members were to be charged, it would be done by the SEC for securities violations and it would be a civil case, not criminal.
@ Behindmlmchecker
Get f’ng real.
Greenwood is asking for nothing less than that the court creates a new precedent for him by only considering US victims. That’s a big ask and it isn’t going to happen.
That Judge Ramos referred to Ugandan victims when sentencing Mark Scott says everything we need to know about where this is going
Will get interesting for sure. But the SDNY prosecutors’ position that its a “new” precedent Greenwood is asking for is wrong in my opinion.
The Azeem 2nd Cir. Opinion, the controlling case dealing with exactly this issue,is 32 years old. Several cases followed and all took the same position while further defining its application. I believe the SDNY prosecutors may have made a horrible mistake by charging only wire fraud as the specified unlawful activity, which tremendously limits (i) DOJ’s reach beyond U.S. borders and (ii) the proceeds subject to the money laundering charges.
As to the reference to African victims by Judge Ramos, perhaps he has never been confronted with this exact issue before. Its not an every day type of a case. Would not be the first Judge to speak out of sorts before digging deeper into the applicable laws and evaluating available evidence. That’s why he allowed for briefings and set oral argument. I am sure his clerks are knee-deep into research about extraterritoriality and sentencing concerns by now.
Do you all think the judge knew all along that the U.S. victim’s losses, while very serious indeed if considered even as a stand-alone crime, were only a miniscule amount in proportion to world-wide conduct? I think this is just now coming to light and may impact his perspective. The SDNY prosecutors have made this a global case in all prosecutions from the outset and may have failed to build the U.S. piece, which must be the foundation in a U.S. Federal case, sufficiently.
The fact that the SDNY prosecutors have not indicted (as far as we know) or identified publicly one single U.S. OneCoin promoter is concerning. To date most of what we heard is the opinion of the SDNY prosecutors, but they have presented little in form of evidence.
If they have more, this is the time to bring it.
I think you need to contact the office of the US Attorney handling this case and tell them how they got it all wrong.
Tell them they need to hire you to take over the case for them so they can win.
Addition to comment #48
What is OneCoin scammer Emil Blumer, DealShaker Country Manager Switzerland and Liechtenstein, planning? His website edtswiss.ch is no longer accessible:
share-your-photo.com/116269eb85
In April 2021, Emil Blumer named himself Co-Captain – alongside Marco Agnelli (Italy) and Günther Sepp (Switzerland) as members of the OneLife Core Team:
share-your-photo.com/51bdb63895
facebook.com/OneLifeIMAFrancophone/photos/a.1094644533907528/4076924855679466/
I would like to remind you that Emil Blumer has organized webinars regularly in the past. The dates for these webinars were published on edtswiss.ch.
Addition to comment #48
Since September 14, 2023, OneCoin scammer Emil Blumer, former Co-Captain and DealShaker Country Manager Switzerland and Liechtenstein, is the sole boss of EcoSystemOne AG in Baar (Switzerland). Corinne Scheer has left the company.
share-your-photo.com/dd067a4a7c
moneyhouse.ch/de/company/ecosystemone-ag-15094381051/messages?toggleMessage=HR02-1005837936