OneCoin legal chief sentenced to four years for role in crypto pyramid scheme: report

The Southern District of New York court has handed down a four-year prison sentence to Bulgarian national Irina Dilkinska for involvement in the web3 initiative OneCoin and its cryptocurrency of the same name.

Dilkinska must also forfeit  $111,440,000 and submit to one month of supervised release, according to a statement from the United States Department of Justice.

Dilkinska was the project's Head of Legal and Compliance but facilitated money laundering and other financial crimes. In one instance, Dilkinska transferred $110 million in illicit OneCoin proceeds to a Cayman Island entity. 

"Irina Dilkinska's involvement in the sprawling OneCoin pyramid scheme was a flagrant breach of conduct. Rather than upholding the law and embracing her position as the Head of Legal and Compliance, she facilitated and committed money laundering, aiding in the exploitation of millions of victims," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in the Wednesday statement. 

The project's records show that it recruited over 3 million participants, netting nearly $4.4 billion (€4.037 billion) in sales revenue between the fourth quarters of 2014 and 2016, the DOJ statement adds. In total, victims invested over $4 billion into OneCoin.

Dilkinska's guilty plea

In November 2023, Dilkinska pled guilty to charges related to conspiracies of wire fraud and money laundering for her role at OneCoin, The Block previously reported. 

The DOJ claims that OneCoin operated as a global multi-level marketing scheme or "pyramid scheme," a controversial business model in which sellers earn commission for their sales and recruit new participants.

OneCoin was founded by Ruja Ignatova, who went by "the Cryptoqueen," and Karl Sebastian Greenwood. Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison and forced to pay a $300 million fine for his involvement in OneCoin and had pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. 

Ruja Ignatova has been on the FBI's most wanted list since May 2022 and presumably remains at large.