The Southern District of New York sentenced Bulgarian national Irina Dyrkinska to four years in prison for her involvement in the Web3 initiative OneCoin and its namesake virtual currency.
Dylkinska must also forfeit $111.44 million and serve one month of supervised release, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Mr. Dyrkinska was the legal and compliance director for the project, but facilitated money laundering and other financial crimes. In one instance, Dilkinska transferred $110 million in illegal OneCoin proceeds to a Cayman Island entity.
“Irina Dyrkinska’s involvement in a sprawling one-coin pyramid scheme was a flagrant violation of conduct.Rather than abide by the law and accept her position as head of legal and compliance, she They facilitated and carried out the ring and helped exploit millions of victims,” U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said in a statement Wednesday.
The project's records show it has recruited more than 3 million participants and generated sales revenue of nearly $4.4 billion (4.037 billion euros) from the fourth quarter of 2014 to 2016, the Justice Department statement added. Ta. In total, the victims invested more than $4 billion in OneCoin.
Dilkinska's guilty plea
In November 2023, Dilkinska pleaded guilty to charges related to wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy for her role at OneCoin, The Block previously reported.
The Department of Justice alleges that OneCoin operated as a global multi-level marketing scheme or “pyramid scheme.” The scheme is a controversial business model in which sellers earn sales commissions and recruit new participants.
OneCoin was founded by “Queen of Crypto” Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood. Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in OneCoin, and was forced to plead guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges and pay a $300 million fine.
Ruja Ignatova has been on the FBI's most wanted list since May 2022 and is likely still at large.
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