A British legislation agency representing a gaggle of OneCoin buyers mentioned {that a} London court docket has issued worldwide freezing orders on belongings belonging to Bulgarian fraudster Ruja Ignatova and a few of her associates, months after the Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its media companions revealed the promoters of the fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme invested in luxurious properties within the United Arab Emirates.
Worldwide authorities have accused Ruja Ignatova of being the mastermind of a $4 billion pyramid scheme that has claimed greater than 3.5 million victims around the globe since its launch in 2014.
Ignatova went lacking in 2018, shortly after the U.S. Justice Division indicted her on fraud and cash laundering fees.
In line with ICIJ’s media accomplice Chicken, recordsdata seized by Sofia police throughout a search of a slain police officer’s dwelling seem to indicate that Ignatova was later killed on a yacht in Greece on the order of a Bulgarian mafia boss. However some information shops have questioned that account.
The London Excessive Court docket’s determination, made public earlier this month, was a part of a authorized declare introduced by a gaggle of greater than 400 OneCoin buyers who’re searching for damages to compensate them for the losses they suffered on account of the alleged fraud, in line with their attorneys at Mishcon de Reya LLP. In addition to Ignatova, the order focused seven individuals allegedly linked to OneCoin and two Guernsey corporations utilized by Ignatova to purchase two London properties, in line with the BBC, which has reported on the rip-off extensively.
“This can be a actually vital step for victims who’ve been searching for justice for the fraud that has been perpetrated towards them,” Mishcon de Reya’s accomplice Rhymal Persad mentioned in a assertion printed on the legislation agency’s web site. “It has taken a very long time to get thus far, however this can be a vital step to make sure these allegedly answerable for finishing up these illegal acts are correctly held to account.”
ICIJ beforehand reported that, in 2015, Ignatova used a Dubai shell firm known as Oceana Properties Ltd. to purchase a $2.7 million penthouse condominium on the highest ground of a skyscraper overlooking Palm Jumeirah, an archipelago of synthetic islands within the Persian Gulf.
Like Ignatova, a minimum of 11 of her associates owned a few of Dubai’s most unique properties over the past 9 years, the investigation revealed.
The findings had been a part of Dubai Unlocked, an investigation into the function of the emirate as an funding hub for criminals and suspects. The mission was coordinated by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Challenge and Norwegian monetary outlet E24. It was primarily based on leaked confidential Dubai land information obtained by the Heart for Superior Protection Research, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that analyzes information on transnational safety issues.
In line with the Dubai information, the consumers included OneCoin’s co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood, who’s serving a 20-year sentence within the U.S. for his involvement within the OneCoin scheme; and Kari Wahlroos, a Finnish businessman who offered himself as OneCoin’s “European ambassador” at promotional occasions organized by the corporate. Greenwood declined to reply ICIJ companions’ questions. Wahlroos, who has not been charged, instructed Finnish broadcaster YLE that he owned a number of flats in Dubai. He denied realizing that the corporate was used to launder cash, as alleged by prosecutors. “I’ve by no means had a penny to do with OneCoin itself,” Wahlroos mentioned.
Each Greenwood and Walhroos are among the many topics of the worldwide asset freeze alongside Ignatova, the BBC reported.
It’s not clear if the freezing order, which is meant to stop the defendants from disposing of their belongings, could have any speedy impact. The order is probably not enforceable until the courts within the international locations the place the belongings are positioned formally acknowledge and acknowledge it.
Jonathan Levy, a lawyer representing different OneCoin fraud victims, instructed ICIJ he was skeptical in regards to the order’s results, contemplating that “no one is aware of the place Ignatova is.” He mentioned that there are $2 billion price of belongings linked to the scheme but to be “uncovered” around the globe and which can be unlikely to be in England, the place the asset freeze would have probably the most impression.
In 2019, after a number of banks flagged transactions involving the “Cryptoqueen” and her corporations as suspicious, Ignatova’s firm Oceana Properties finalized the sale of her luxurious Dubai flat.
A title deed obtained by ICIJ’s accomplice Paper Path Media exhibits {that a} younger British lawyer purchased the condominium for about $1.6 million. It’s not clear who dealt with the sale on behalf of Ignatova and pocketed the cash. The lawyer who purchased the property didn’t reply to reporters’ questions.
Ignatova stays on the FBI’s record of most needed fugitives. The company considers her to be alive “till there’s documented proof that she is lifeless,” a spokesperson instructed ICIJ.
The U.S. authorities lately elevated the reward supplied “for data resulting in the arrest and/or conviction of Ruja Ignatova” to $5 million.
