A former lawyer from Locke Lord LLP has been sentenced for laundering millions of dollars in OneCoin fraud.
In a landmark verdict, former Locke Lord LLP senior attorney Mark Scott was sentenced on January 25 to 10 years in prison for laundering $400 million in the infamous OneCoin Ponzi scheme.
Scott was sentenced in the Southern District of New York following his 2019 conviction on multiple counts of bank fraud and money laundering. The Inner City Journal first reported the court's decision.
OneCoin Lawyer
Launched in 2014 and operating out of Sofia, Bulgaria, OneCoin was initially positioned as a breakthrough cryptocurrency. However, it quickly became a fraudulent multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme that defrauded more than $4 billion from at least 3.5 million victims worldwide between 2014 and 2016.
OneCoin’s value has been incorrectly described as being driven by market supply and demand, but in reality, it is a worthless digital currency whose price is manipulated and arbitrarily set by the operators of the scheme.
Scott joined the scheme in September 2015 after meeting OneCoin co-founder Ruja Ignatova, who played a key role in laundering the fraud. Although his defense claimed ignorance of the fraudulent nature of OneCoin, evidence and testimony presented during the trial painted a different picture.
Prosecutors argued that Scott was deeply involved in the operations, establishing an elaborate offshore fund structure to conceal the source of the ill-gotten gains.
During sentencing, the judge scrutinized Scott’s post-conviction actions, including selling his Porsche and moving large amounts of funds to the Cayman Islands rather than using them to compensate OneCoin victims. The judge said the actions showed a lack of remorse and an unwillingness to help the victims of the scheme he helped perpetuate.
OneCoin collapse
Ruja Ignatova, known as the “Crypto Queen,” remains at large and was named to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in June 2022. The case continues to unfold as other OneCoin associates face legal consequences for their involvement in the scheme.
Scott’s verdict is a stark reminder of the risks posed by unregulated digital currencies and the potential for them to be misused in large-scale fraud. It serves as a cautionary tale for professionals in the legal and financial fields about the consequences of promoting or turning a blind eye to questionable financial practices.
The OneCoin case remains a touchstone in discussions about whether the cryptocurrency market needs stricter regulation and oversight.
Scott’s conviction and sentencing underscore the seriousness with which the U.S. justice system treats financial crimes, especially those involving emerging technologies such as cryptocurrency. It also highlights the ongoing efforts by law enforcement agencies around the world to bring to justice those involved in one of the most notorious frauds in the digital currency space. #OneCoin #银行欺诈