$4B OneCoin scam victims might get 1% of their losses back
The more than a decade-old story of one of the biggest scams in history, OneCoin, is getting another chapter, with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) beginning to compensate victims. But don't get too excited – compensations comprise only 1% of the total losses.
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The more than a decade-old story of one of the biggest scams in history, OneCoin, is getting another chapter, with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) beginning to compensate victims. But don't get too excited – compensations comprise only 1% of the total losses.
The DoJ said that more than $40 million in forfeited assets is available to compensate victims worldwide who purchased OneCoin tokens between 2014 and 2019.
To get at least some of the money, victims need to file a petition form by June 30th, 2026, which can also be found on the www.onecoinremission.com website.
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Victims would need to provide emails from OneCoin, order confirmations, copies/screenshots of online accounts, bank transactions/wire receipts, and/or any other documentation they might have. There's no timeline for when the compensation might be paid, and no guarantee it will happen at all.
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However, for those who are lucky enough to get some of the money back, how much they receive will depend on the amount of OneCoin purchased and retained, minus any amount recovered from commissions, insurance claims, or other means.
"Today’s announcement marks an important step toward returning funds to those harmed. While no recovery can fully undo the damage, our Office will continue working to seize criminal proceeds and prioritize getting money back into the hands of victims," said US Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York.
OneCoin, which was run from Bulgaria by founders Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, began selling its fraudulent tokens through a global multi-level marketing network in 2014 and stole $4 billion worldwide by 2019.
Some key figures involved in the crime scheme have already been sentenced. Meanwhile, the fate of Bulgarian-German Ruja Ignatova, 45, aka the "Cryptoqueen," remains unknown.
The US government is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ignatova. There were even unconfirmed reports that she was murdered on a yacht in the Ionian Sea, with her body dismembered and thrown into the sea.
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