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The US Department of Justice has opened a compensation claims process for victims of the OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme. Eligible investors can seek compensation from over $40 million in forfeited assets. The claims deadline is June 30, and Kroll is administering the process.
The Justice Department said the available funds come from criminal forfeiture actions linked to federal prosecutions in the Southern District of New York. Victims who bought OneCoin between 2014 and 2019 may qualify.
Kroll has posted petition forms on the program’s website. The department said investors must submit their claims by June 30 to enter the compensation process.
The available pool remains small beside the scheme’s global reach. OneCoin collected more than $4 billion from victims worldwide during those five years.
The announcement arrives as Ruja Ignatova, OneCoin’s co-founder, remains a fugitive. The FBI added her to its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list in June 2022.
The FBI has offered up to $250,000 for information leading to Ignatova’s arrest. While the State Department has offered $5 million.
Courts have moved against several associates. In Germany, prosecutors charged a Munich-based lawyer in October 2022 after he allegedly transferred 20 million euros to the Cayman Islands for two London apartments.
German prosecutors also charged a husband and wife in the same case. They accused the pair of handling 320 million euros in OneCoin customer payments over one year.
Those charges included money laundering, fraud, and banking offenses. The cases added to a broader legal push that has stretched across several jurisdictions.
In the United States, co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood pleaded guilty in December 2022 to wire fraud and money laundering. A court later sentenced him to 20 years in prison. The same court also imposed a $300 million penalty on Greenwood. The sentence marked one of the largest personal penalties tied to the OneCoin fraud.
OneCoin’s former head of legal and compliance, Irina Dilkinska, faced judgment in the United States. She pleaded guilty in November 2023 to conspiracies involving wire fraud and money laundering. In April 2024, a court sentenced Dilkinska to four years in prison and ordered her to forfeit $111.44 million.
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In the latest case tied to the scheme, prosecutors charged William Morro. They said he helped hide OneCoin-linked funds by lying to banks about the money’s source. Morro allegedly moved $35 million to a Hong Kong account and transferred about $6 million to an account in the United States. Authorities arrested him on April 23, 2024.
FBI New York official James C. Barnacle Jr. said many victims drained their savings after false statements and empty promises drew them into the scheme. He said the FBI will keep pursuing the fraud’s participants.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation led the criminal fraud investigation. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also assisted. Since 2000, the department said its victim compensation program has returned more than $12.5 billion.
The DOJ has opened the OneCoin claims process for eligible investors, offering access to more than $40 million in forfeited assets. The recovery pool is limited compared with total losses, but the program gives victims a formal path to seek compensation.
