The founders of the notorious OneCoin cryptocurrency scam have received jail sentences from a German court.
In Münster, Germany, on Monday, key accomplices in the OneCoin crypto fraud case were sentenced. Frank Ricketts, his wife Manon Hubenthal, and a Munich-based lawyer were found guilty of amassing around €320 million from almost 90,000 OneCoin victims across Europe. The lawyer, Martin Breidenbach, was accused of transferring €20 million to overseas accounts using false data.
Frank was sentenced to 5 years in jail, while Manon received a 4-year term. The lawyer, Martin Breidenbach, was given a 2-year and nine-month prison sentence.
According to German media reports, the court ordered the seizure of assets from each defendant. Manon was instructed to pay €43,500, Frank to pay nearly €1.2 million, and the lawyer to pay €627,000.
The couple had entered into an agreement with Ruja Ignatova, often called the ‘crypto queen,’ who led the OneCoin operation. Ruja allegedly attracted investors through grand events organized between 2014 and 2016 and is listed among the FBI’s top 10 most wanted fugitives. She has been wanted by Interpol since 2017.
In June 2023, reports circulated that Ruja was killed by a drug lord in Greece while on a yacht, though the murder supposedly occurred in November 2018. According to reports, Hristoforos ‘Taki’ Amanatidis, an infamous drug lord, murdered Ruja to conceal his involvement in the OneCoin scam, disposing of her body in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Greece. Despite these reports, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation website still features her profile, offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to her arrest.
OneCoin is regarded as one of the largest cryptocurrency scams, raising a total of around $4 billion. The unraveling of the scam began in 2016 after suspicions were raised. Investigations revealed transactions totaling €320 million within a week, with the couple benefiting millions in commission.
In June 2023, the US Department of Justice filed charges against Irina Dilkinska, a Bulgarian woman involved in the OneCoin crypto Ponzi scheme. She faces charges of wire fraud and money laundering, with each offense carrying a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.
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