Mark Scott,
the lawyer convicted of laundering $400 million from the infamous OneCoin
fraud, has been denied a motion for a new trial despite revelations of false
testimony during his 2019 trial. United States District Judge Edgardo Ramos
made the decision during a hearing held on September 18.
Scott,
aged 54, had argued that he was unaware of OneCoin’s fraudulent nature when he
played a pivotal role in setting up a fund that facilitated money laundering
for OneCoin’s Founder, Ruja ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ignatova.
In
November 2019, he was found guilty of money laundering and bank fraud
conspiracy, ultimately amassing $50 million through a fraudulent fund
responsible for processing payments and transactions linked to the OneCoin
scheme.
Throughout
his legal battle, Scott’s defense team had been pushing for a new trial, citing
false testimony provided by a government witness, Konstantin Ignatov, during
the initial trial. Ignatov, who admitted to assisting his sister Igantova in the
OneCoin fraud, had played a significant role in the proceedings.
However,
Judge Ramos, while acknowledging the false testimony, remained unconvinced that
“an innocent person may have been convicted” and rejected Scott’s
request for a new trial during the September 18 hearing.
OneCoin’s
Deceptive Beginnings as a Cryptocurrency
In
response to the decision, Scott’s legal team has expressed their intention to
appeal, highlighting their client’s disappointment that the court did not grant
a new trial, considering the “undisputed evidence that the Government’s
sole cooperating witness perjured himself.”
OneCoin,
launched in 2014, initially presented itself as a cryptocurrency similar in
structure to Bitcoin. However, it was later exposed as a pyramid scheme that
lured in unsuspecting investors with fictitious claims and the promise of high
future earnings.
Prosecutors
alleged that Mark Scott used his ill-gotten gains from OneCoin to fund an
extravagant lifestyle, including the acquisition of luxury homes, designer watches, sports cars, and even a 17-meter yacht.
In
a related development, on September 12, Judge Ramos sentenced OneCoin’s
Co-Founder, Karl Greenwood, to 20 years in prison in the United States.
Greenwood had been found guilty of multiple charges, including fraud and money
laundering.
Meanwhile,
Ruja Ignatova, the mastermind behind the OneCoin scheme, remains elusive and has not been seen since October
2017. She is
currently featured on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s…
