A participant in the OneCoin global crypto pyramid scheme pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in a New York court.
The purported compliance chief for Sofia, Bulgaria-based OneCoin, Irina Dilkinska pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for her role in a scheme that purportedly took in over €4 billion from investors.
The company operated as a pyramid scheme with investors receiving commissions for recruiting others to purchase its cryptocurrency packages.
According to U.S. authorities, Dilkinska helped run day-to-day operations and laundered money for OneCoin, including arranging for the transfer of US$110 million in fraudulently obtained funds to an offshore entity in the Cayman Islands.
“As OneCoin’s so-called ‘head of legal and compliance’ Irina Dilkinska accomplished the exact opposite goal of her position. As she has now admitted, Dilkinska facilitated the laundering of millions of dollars of illicit profits OneCoin accrued through its multi-level-marketing scheme,” said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a release.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 14.
The co-founder of the OneCoin company, Ruja Ignatova — known as the “Cryptoqueen” — was added to the FBI’s 10 most wanted list in June 2022.
She was charged with fraud and money laundering by U.S. authorities in the SDNY, but disappeared in 2017 and has not been heard from since.