This article was published on September 30, 2019

Bank of Ireland staff asked to testify in $300M OneCoin fraud case

The pyramid continues to fall


Bank of Ireland staff asked to testify in $300M OneCoin fraud case

As the multi-billion dollar OneCoin cryptocurrency pyramid scheme continues to tumble, news of witnesses set to testify against the scam’s perpetrators are now coming to light.

According to Finance Feeds, employees of the Bank of Ireland have been asked to testify in the case against Mark Scott, one of the alleged figureheads of the $3 billion-plus OneCoin scam.

Scott, a former partner with international law firm Locke Lord, has been accused of laundering $300 million in OneCoin proceeds using corporate accounts at the Bank of Ireland. It’s believed that he misrepresented the source of the funds to the bank.

Three witnesses from the bank are being called upon. The first is Deidre Ceannt who worked in foreign direct investment between 2014 and 2017. The second is Derek Collins who was executive vice president and relationship director in 2016. The third and final witness is Gregg Begley who is said to have processed paperwork submitted by Scott.

The defendant allegedly setup a series of offshore investment funds, called the “Fenero Funds,” which were purportedly used to launder the illicit proceeds.

Based on the accusations, it appears that Scott used the offshore funds to disguise the fact that the money held in them was derived from the bogus OneCoin Ponzi scheme. It’s believed $300 million was moved from these funds into accounts operated by Bank of Ireland.

Despite the mounting evidence against Scott, he has previously denied that he knew OneCoin’s activities were unlawful. His trial was recently rescheduled to begin on November 4, 2019.

If you weren’t in the loop on this whole OneCoin scam, you should probably get up-to-speed.

The OneCoin scam was headed by Bulgarian brother-sister duo, Konstantin Ignatov and Ruja Ignatova. At glamorous events, the pair promised to be launching a cryptocurrency unlike any other. Only, it was all fake, there was no blockchain and there was no cryptocurrency.

It’s one of the biggest cryptocurrency scams to have ever operated.The total figure of how much the duo managed to steal isn’t exactly known, however estimates suggest it’s at least $3 billion.

Want more Hard Fork? Join us in Amsterdam on October 15-17 to discuss blockchain and cryptocurrency with leading experts.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with


Published
Back to top