OneCoin Lawyer Loses Appeal in $400M Money Laundering Case

• OneCoin Lawyer has lost his appeal in a money laundering case.
• The judge affirmed that the jury didn’t “convict an innocent person.”
• The OneCoin ship continues to sink with key players convicted.

A lawyer embroiled in the OneCoin crypto fraud saga risks up to 50 years behind bars after a New York Judge denied him a retrial despite witness perjury claims in his previous trial.

Mark Scott, a former Locke Lord LLP equity partner, was convicted in 2019 of laundering millions of dollars tied to one of the founders of the OneCoin Ponzi Scheme, Ruja Ignatova, famously known as the “Cryptoqueen.”

Court “Satisfied” with the Jury Verdict

Scott filed a motion after his conviction, challenging the pieces of evidence that the jury relied on to find him guilty, among them witness statements by Konstantin Ignatov (Ruja’s brother) and an unnamed former executive of OneCoin, which he claimed were all false.

In a court order dated September 14, United States District Judge Edgardo Ramos asserted that Scott failed to establish a “reasonable likelihood” that perjury allegations in witness statements could have affected the jury’s verdict that he was involved in a wide-ranging money laundering scheme and wire fraud to the tune of $400M.

USA Berman: Mark Scott lined his pockets with over $50 million of the money stolen from victims of the OneCoin scheme. Scott, who boasted of earning ‘50 by 50,’ now faces 50 years in prison for his crimes

— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) November 21, 2019

The judge also ruled out Scott’s defense that the prosecution failed to prove that he was involved with OneCoin, noting that “The government need not prove the defendant’s familiarity with all of the conspiracy’s details; it may demonstrate simply the defendant’s awareness of the ‘general nature and extent’ of the conspiracy.”

Scott’s loss in court comes hardly a week after OneCoin co-founder Sebastian Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The Sinking OneCoin Ship

Greenwood pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in December 2022, with the prosecutors in his case affirming that he was the master distributor of the fake cryptocurrency.

OneCoin’s former head of compliance, Irina Dilkinska, was also charged with wire fraud and money laundering counts on March 21, following her extradition from Bulgaria.

Read why Ruja Ignatova is on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List:
Cryptoqueen Makes FBI Top 10 Most Wanted List Over $4 Billion ‘OneCoin’ Fraud

Find out where Ruja Ignatova was spotted earlier this year:
“Crypto Queen” Ruja Ignatova Resurfaces for the First Time in Five Years