| As New OneCoin Lawsuit Cites
Greenwood and Madani, Konstantin Sentencing
Pushed Back
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
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Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 13 -- For money laundering
for scam crypto currency
OneCoin, lawyer Mark Scott was
convicted by a jury after
testimony by Konstantin
Ignatov and others but was
allowed to remain free on bail
pending sentencing.
Meanwhile
Crypto-Queen Ruja Ignatova's
marketing director Sebastian
Greenwood continues to have
his case postponed. A similar
back-up portends for Frank
Schneider, arrested on April
29 in Joudreville in the
Pays-Haut Meurthe-et-Mosellan
trying to get back into
Luxembourg and said to be
awaiting extradition.
Update: Inner City Press has
put questions to the US
Attorney's Office - a day
later, no response.
Now on May 13, at
the US Attorney's Office
request, more delay of
sentencing: "ENDORSED LETTER
as to Konstantin Ignatov
addressed to Judge Edgardo
Ramos from AUSAs Nicholas
Folly / Michael McGinnis,
dated May 12, 2021 re: the
Government respectfully
requests that the sentencing
control date be adjourned for
approximately six months.
ENDORSEMENT: The application
is granted. The sentencing
control date is adjourned to
November 12, 2021." Watch this
site.
Inner City Press
previously exclusively reported:
Konstantin: I
tried to find where OneCoin
had money. I spoke with Frank
Schneider.
AUSA: Who was he?
Konstantin: Ruja got her
information about law
enforcement investigations
from him. He was a money
launderer. [We'll have more on
this]
On May 11, 2021,
Inner City Press received a
phone message and then an
email, about a law suit filed
about OneCoin and Ruja and
Bitcoin - and now these
documents, of Greenwood's SDNY
lawyer Barket to the UAE and
Mashreq Bank, on Patreon here
and now see his Seychelles
power of attorney to Dutch
real estate agent Mimoun
Madani, on Patreon here
-- and "new information
about $500 million still in
Dubai bank accounts and
reveals Cryptoqueen Ruja
Ignatova made off with 230,000
Bitcoins now worth over $13
billion paid to her by a
member of an Emirati royal
family in 2015. The
lawsuit is based on new
information from Dubai where
One Coin had a large presence
confirms the presence of $500
million in cash and other
assets worth as much as $1
billion being fought over in
several court cases by
representatives of Ruja
Ignatova, her second in
command Sebastian Greenwood,
an Emirati sheikh, and other
One Coin associates. The
One Coin organization funneled
billions to banks and real
estate in Dubai where they
were aided by His Excellency
Sheikh Saoud bin Faisal Al
Qassimi and a former real
estate agent Mimoun
Madani. Al Qassimi is
the son of one of the
wealthiest men in the UAE,
United Arab Bank CEO H.E.
Sheikh Faisal Bin Sultan Bin
Salem Al Qassimi....
The younger Al
Qassimi was an early associate
of Ignatova and provided her
diplomatic credentials to
facilitate her travel to and
residence in the UAE. Al
Qassimi and Greenwood also
made a “gift” of over $1
million to a Dubai bank
official to facilitate the
opening of accounts for the
OneCoin enterprise.
However, in 2015, the accounts
containing over $500 million
were frozen when Ignatova and
Greenwood came under suspicion
for money laundering.
In 2015 the
younger Sheikh Al Qassimi in a
well-documented and witnessed
transaction handed over to
embattled Ignatova, four hard
wallets (USB devices)
containing 230,000 Bitcoins
then worth about $50 million
in exchange for the now frozen
One Coin bank accounts, other
assets and real estate in the
UAE worth perhaps $1 billion.
The peer to peer transaction
was anonymous and as the price
of Bitcoin rose to dizzying
heights, Ignatova was supplied
with a virtually endless
supply of cash. She dropped
out of site [sic] by
the end of 2017. The 230,000
Bitcoins are now worth a
staggering $13 billion.
The Cryptoqueen has become the
largest beneficiary of the
Bitcoin price run up and
crowned most successful
criminal in history. With
billions in cryptocurrency,
she has easily eluded an
international manhunt thanks
to Bitcoin’s anonymity." Or
was killed...
Greenwood had a
pre-trial conference on August
7, 2020. Inner City Press, as
it did the Scott trial, live
tweeted it here:
Judge Ramos:
Please call the case.
Deputy: US v.
Greenwood.
Bruce Barket for
Mr. Greenwood who is also on
the line.
Judge Ramos: Mr.
Greenwood, you have a right to
be present in court. Do you
waive it?
Greenwood: I do.
Judge
Ramos: Mr Folly, tell me where
we are?
AUSA Folly: There
has been some turn over, the
defendant has retained new
counsel several times. Mr.
Barket has only had a couple
of months of the case at this
point. We have produced a
sub-set of discovery to him.
AUSA Folly:
We have had some discussions
about a pre-trial disposition.
But given the difficulties of
prison visits, they have been
unable to fully discuss their
option. He is evaluating
whether to move to trial, or
move toward with pre-trial
resolution.
AUSA Folly:
At this stage it would make
sense to hold off on setting
any deadline and to come back
in a month or two and revisit
the status and proceed from
there.
Barket for
Greenwood: I agree. Our
communications with our client
has been woefully inadequate.
Barket:
This week we got 180 minutes
over two days. But usually
it's just an hour every ten
days. If we could visit, we
would spend hours every day, I
could get up to speed. A $15
billion alleged international
crypto-currency, with a lot of
information on the Internet
Barket: He
is one of the key participants
in the fraud, if it is a
fraud. We need to speak with
him. Video conferences take 10
days to set up. It's been this
way since May.
Judge Ramos:
Where is he being held?
Barket: In the
MCC in Manhattan.
Judge
Ramos: I appreciate the
obstacles. The Bureau of
Prisons efforts have
maintained a level of safety.
[Judge Ramos heard a case
about conditions in the MCC,
brought as it happened by Mark
Scott's lawyer Arlo Devlin
Brown]
Judge Ramos: Let's come back
in October.
Deputy:
October 5 at 11 am.
Judge Ramos: In
the meantime, have you
received all of the discovery,
Mr. Barket?
Barket: I got the
entire file from prior counsel
and some additional discovery
from the government. AUSA
Folly: We haven't given all of
it.
AUSA Folly: We
haven't given all of the
discovery due to discussions
of a pre-trial disposition.
We've shown him his own emails
to show him his knowledge and
involvement from the very
beginning of this fraud
scheme.
Barket: We've not
gotten very far...
Judge
Ramos: I would encourage the
parties discuss what has not
been turned over. Anything
else today?
AUSA Folly: Let's
exclude Speedy Trial Act time
until October 5 to allow
discussion of a pre-trial
disposition.
Ramos: Granted,
this outweighs the interest of
the public and of the
defendant in a Speedy Trial.
We are adjourned.
Inner City
Press aims to cover this
- and the long delayed
sentencing of Gilbert Armenta
on October 21. Watch this
site, and Twitter feed here.
In a
parallel world on March 12 the
US Attorney's Office belatedly
moved to revoke Scott's bail,
citing Scott's continue use of
OneCoin derived funds and,
explicitly, Inner City Press'
"blog
post" about Scott
dining out in Florida while on
home incarceration.
Assistant
US Attorney Chris Demase said
they have first read out it in
the blog post and couldn't
believe it - but that it was
proved by GPS information from
Scott's location monitoring
ankle bracelet.
Mark
Scott's Florida based lawyer
David M. Garvin sputtered over
the telephone from Florida,
with Scott next to him, that
the dinner had involved
lawyers. He tried to explain
Scott's use of OneCoin funds.
But Scott was ordered to turn
himself in to the US Bureau of
Prisons on March 13. And on
that day, Konstantin Ignatov
was released. Strange
symmetry.
Another of his
lawyers, when Inner City Press
left the courtroom, was
arranging to pay for a
transcript, perhaps to appeal.
Inner
City Press on
March 13 asked
the US
Attorney's
Office Press
Office for its
filings not
yet in the
public
docket.
Here
is Inner City Press' Periscope
video upon leaving the
courthouse. The case is US v.
Scott, 17-cr-630
(Ramos).
***
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