In
OneCoin Trial Mark Scott Cites Neil Bush
Role in Madagascar Oil Deal After
Konstantin Plea
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Thread, Plea
BBC
The
Times
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov 14 –
After OneCoin's Konstantin
Ignatov got a stay of the
civil case against him, his
criminal case was said to have
been kicked down the road for
at least another two months.
It was a
productive two months, at
least for the U.S. Attorney's
Office.
On November
14 the US Attorney's Office by
questioning a Special Agent
put into evidence emails and
website which were sent to
Mark Scott putting him on
notice that, as one
communication put it, that
"OneCoin Is A Scam."
The day
ended with Scott's lawyer Arlo
Devlin-Brown of Covington
arguing to get into evidence a
Madagascar oil deal proposal
in which Scott and his
entities accused of laundering
loaned money related to a
Madagascar oil deal involving
none other than Neil Bush, the
63-year old brother of former
US President George W. Bush.
But Scott's attemped subpoenas
were quashed.
The
relevance seemed to be a
reference in the Madagascar
deal to payment being accepted
not only in $60 million US,
but also OneCoin. Press
release on WayBack, here;
sample of Neil Bush's involvement
in Madagascar oil, here.
How could it be a scam, the
argument goes, if Neil Bush
and Dr. Hui Chi Ming was
prepared to accept it? Hooey
indeed. More on Patreon here,
including on a Japan
connection.
As to the OneCoin
scam presentation,
Devlin-Scott refused to
stipulate that the website was
in that condition on the day
in April 2016 that it was sent
to Scott. He acknowledged,
"This is not a good document
for Mr. Scott." But both sides
cited the Way-Back Machine
service which shows websites
as they existed on particular
days in the past. The evidence
came in.
The day
ended with Scott's lawyers
asking to be able to argue
ex-parte to Judge Ramos about
a subpoena concerning an oil
deal, or loan for an oil deal,
pursued by Mark Scott's Fenera
Funds. They said the
government should be excluded
from their presentation to
Judge Ramos because it would
expose the defense's strategy.
More on Patreon here.
The
government had said it would
rest its case on November 15
but it is not clear that will
happen.
On November
13 the prosecution and the
defense both questioned the
deputy Chief Operating Officer
of Locke Lord, the law firm
Mark Scott worked at from June
2015 through September 2016.
Thread here.
E-mails
were shown in which OneCoin's
Ruja Ignatova told
Scott, "I have some cash with
me. About 220K GBP. Can you
store it for me in London?"
Other exhibits concerned a
bank in Zimbabwe, a penthouse
in London, and funds put into
and quickly taken out of the
law firm's escrow account.
There is
also in evidence
an e-mail from the defendant
Mark Scott to now-cooperating
witness Konstantin Ignatov, as
his sister Ruja's personal
assistant, stating that "I
would prefer not meeting in
Sophia as I don't want too
many travels there on my
flight list." More on Patreon
here.
On November 12
Inner City Press obtained and
put online here,
on Scribd, Konstantin
Ignatov's plea agreement,
including "On the
understandings specified
below, the Office of the
United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
(“this Office”) will accept a
guilty plea from Konstantin
Ignatov (the “defendant”) to
the above-referenced
four-count Superseding
Information (the
“Information")...
If the defendant
fully complies with the
understandings specified in
this Agreement, he will not be
further prosecuted criminally
by this Office for any crimes,
except for criminal tax
violations, related to his
participation in: (1) an
international cryptocurrency
fraud scheme known as
“OneCoin” (the “OneCoin
Scheme"), from in or about
2016, up to and including in
or about 2019, as charged in
Counts One and Two of the
Information; (2) a conspiracy
to defraud banks and other
financial institutions
worldwide by causing them to
transfer proceeds of the
OneCoin Scheme by
misrepresenting and omitting
material facts to those banks
and financial institutions,
from in or about 2016, up to
and including in or about
2019, as charged in Count Four
of the Information; and (3) a
conspiracy to launder criminal
proceeds derived from the
OneCoin Scheme, and to
transfer funds internationally
to promote the OneCoin Scheme,
from in or about 2016, up to
and including in or about
2019, as charged in Count
Three of the Information; to
the extent that he has
disclosed such participation
to this Office as of the date
of this Agreement.
It is
understood that Ignatov's
truthful cooperation with this
Office is likely to reveal
activities of individuals who
might use violence, force, and
intimidation against Ignatov,
his family, and loved ones.
Should Ignatov's cooperation
present a significant risk of
physical harm, this Office,
upon the written request of
Ignatov, will take steps that
it determines to be reasonable
and necessary to attempt to
ensure his safety and that of
his family and loved ones.
These steps may
include application to the
Witness Security Program of
the United States Marshals
Service, whereby Ignatov, his
family, and loved ones, if
approved, could be relocated
under a new identity...
This Office will,
however, bring the cooperation
of the defendant to the
attention of other prosecuting
offices, if requested by
him. It is understood
that the sentence to be
imposed upon the defendant is
within the sole discretion of
the Court.
This Office
cannot, and does not, make any
promise or representation as
to what sentence the defendant
will receive, and will not
recommend any specific
sentence to the Court.
However, this Office will
inform the Probation Office
and the Court of (a) this
Agreement; (b) the nature and
extent of the defendant's
activities with respect to
this case and all other
activities of the defendant
which this Office deems
relevant to sentencing; and
(c) the nature and extent of
the defendant's cooperation
with this Office. In so doing,
this Office may use any
information it deems relevant,
including information provided
by the defendant both prior to
and subsequent to the signing
of this Agreement.
In addition, if
this Office determines that
the defendant has provided
substantial assistance in an
investigation or prosecution,
and if he has fully complied
with the understandings
specified in this Agreement,
this Office will file a
motion, pursuant to Section
5K1.1 of the Sentencing
Guidelines, requesting the
Court to sentence the
defendant in light of the
factors set forth in Section
5K1.1(a)(1)-(5).
It is understood
that, even if such a motion is
filed, the sentence to be
imposed on the defendant
remains within the sole
discretion of the Court.
Moreover, nothing in this
Agreement limits this Office's
right to present any facts and
make any arguments relevant to
sentencing to the Probation
Office and the Court, or to
take any position on
post-sentencing motions. The
defendant hereby consents to
such adjournments of his
sentence as may be requested
by this Office.
It is
understood that, should this
Office determine either that
the defendant has not provided
substantial assistance in an
investigation or prosecution,
or that the defendant has
violated any provision of this
Agreement, such a
determination will release
this Office from any
obligation to file a motion
pursuant to Section 5K1.1 of
the Sentencing Guidelines, but
will not entitle the defendant
to withdraw his guilty plea
once it has been entered.
It is
understood that, should this
Office determine, subsequent
to the filing of a motion
pursuant to Section 5K1.1 of
the Sentencing Guidelines
and/or 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3553(e),
that the defendant has
violated any provision of this
Agreement, this Office shall
have the right to withdraw
such motion."
A sample TD
Bank letter to Gilbert Armenta
is here.
We'll have more on this.
On November 7 in
the case against accused
OneCoin money launderer Mark
Scott Konstantin Ignatov for
the third and last day took
the witness stand, in prison
blues with his neck and arm
tattoos, as a cooperating
witness.
Scott's
lawyer Arlo Devlin-Brown
zeroed in on Konstantin
Ignatov's guilty plea to bank
fraud, asking him to name
which FDIC insured bank he had
provided false information to.
Ignatov
could not name a US bank, only
United Bank of Dubai.
"No further
questions," Devlin-Brown told
Judge Ramos.
Inner City
Press has asked the US
Attorney's Office when it was
that Konstantin Ignatov pled
guilty, since he gave no
indication of such a plea in a
September 6 status conference
that Inner City Press covered,
and has asked if it was before
Judge Ramos, and if it was
sealed.
The
government's next witness was
the anti money laundering
expert Donald Semesky. Inner
City Press will continue to
cover the trial. November 7
thread here.
More on Patreon here.
On
November 6 Konstantin Ignatov
testified that the bodyguards
to took Ruja on her final
public trip told him she was
met by "Russian guys," and
that Ruja had told him that in
Russia she knew a rich and
powerful person. More on
Patreon, here.
The case
is US v.
Scott / Ignatov,
17-cr-630
(Ramos).
More
on Patreon, here.
***
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