OneCoin Denies Crypto ‘Ponzi-Pyramid Scheme’ Allegations

OneCoin has sent a letter to the press denying that it is a “hybrid Ponzi-pyramid scheme” and scam.

In March, United States prosecutors announced criminal charges against the leaders of OneCoin: Konstantin Ignatov, 33, and his sister Ruja Ignatova, 38, known as the “Cryptoqueen.” Prosecutors say the two tricked investors by promising huge returns with very low risk, generating around 3.353 billion euros ($3.769 billion) in sales revenue.

OneCoin “created a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency company based completely on lies and deceit,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan said in a statement at the time. “Investors were victimized while the defendants got rich.”

“These defendants executed an old-school pyramid scheme on a new-school platform,” added Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

Then in April, OneCoin representatives scored an invite to the Samoa Worship Centre to pitch their allegedly fraudulent investment products — despite the fact that Samoa’s central bank banned any activities involving the scheme last year. The bank then launched an investigation, leading OneCoin to send a letter to the Samoa Observer denying that it laundered funds through New Zealand to Samoa and that it is a Ponzi scheme.

The company claims that it is “a centralized, closed-source cryptocurrency. The closed system has strict AML and CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism) policies as well as KYC (Know-Your-Customer) implementation and, as in our case, prevents anonymous transactions,” according to Cointelegraph.

In addition, “by accepting the contract, the user becomes an independent, self-employed business owner.” As a result, the company says its not responsible for the activities carried out by its users in Samoa and New Zealand.

“Let it be clear that neither OneCoin nor OneLife companies have organization, representation or employees in Samoa and New Zealand. No one has authority to act or make statements on the company’s behalf in Samoa and New Zealand,” the company added.