'Cryptoqueen' Sidekick Gets 20 Years For $4 Billion Ponzi

The cofounder and main promoter of the $4 billion OneCoin pyramid scheme was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in one of the first and biggest criminal frauds involving cryptocurrency. Bloomberg: Karl Sebastian Greenwood, 46, was sentenced in New York Tuesday, after pleading guilty in December to creating and promoting a phony cryptocurrency. Greenwood was the wingman of Ruja Ignatova, the so-called "Cryptoqueen" and most wanted crypto fugitive in the world. US District Judge Edgardo Ramos called the fraud "massive in many respects," noting that OneCoin had no blockchain, no real cryptocoin and no trading market. Victims could not withdraw their investments and most face the likelihood they'll never get any of their money back. "At base, it involved nothing more than old-fashioned snake oil," the judge said. Greenwoood's sentencing closes one chapter of the OneCoin case, which authorities describe as one of the largest pyramid schemes in history. It impacted 3.5 million victims across the globe and foreshadowed a broader crackdown on crime in the cryptocurrency markets.

Some context

[AleRunner]

A short introduction in 17 podcasts (!) The Missing Cryptoqueen [bbc.co.uk]

Re:Some context

[Opportunist]

A short introduction in 6 words. It's crypto, what did you expect?

Re:

[shortscruffydave]

I don't think I'd consider OneCoin to be crypto. Certainly, it pretended to be, but with no blockchain and no ability to trade/exchange it doesn't seem to have been anything other than outright fraud.

Re:

[eneville]

If you like this, you may also like The Lazarus Heist

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programm... [bbc.co.uk]

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

there was a german guy named "karl" who said this same thing in the 19th century. maybe you should read his book

Re: The entire economy is a ponzi scheme

[Midnight_Falcon]

This Russian guy named Joe read that book and sent most of the politicians to Gulag, and sent his main man with an icepick to go take care of a pesky one

Re:

[Opportunist]

Erh... Lenin might have been much, but idealist isn't exactly the first word that would come to my mind...

Re:

[Powercntrl]

The economy undergoes corrections every so often, whereas Ponzi schemes simply collapse.

Re:The entire economy is a ponzi scheme

[The Evil Atheist]

Ponzi schemes generally can't produce things like air travel, satellite internet, food over-abundance...

Re:

[Opportunist]

I don't really remember a lot of politicians and bankers who'd do either, the things you list were made possible by engineers and farmers. You know, people who actually work.

Re:

[The Evil Atheist]

I was responding to the title of their comment, which they claim the entire economy is a ponzi scheme.

Despite the politicians, bankers, and other middlemen trying to skim off the top, the economy itself isn't a ponzi scheme.

Re:

[stealth_finger]

Because they are the ones in charge. You know the police work for them right?

20 years for 4 billion

[backslashdot]

I am not saying I disagree but if we went by number of victims rather than intensity of individual harm caused, it means that if you steal say $1000 you would only have to spend about 3 minutes in jail.

Re:

[timeOday]

What I don't get is how $4B could disappear. I can kind of imagine suckering that much out of people, but where do you hide that much so it and you cannot be found?

Re:

[eneville]

Gold, fineart, or bitcoin.

Re:

[nikkipolya]

Just the BitCoin alone. Lugging those other things around would raise a lot of suspicion. When it comes to crime, cryptos are your best friend.

Not really "investors"

[TomR teh Pirate]

All the people snapping up cryptocurrencies aren't investors, they are speculators betting they are less stupid than the people they expect to sell their cryptocurrencies to in some future where arbitrary demand has increased while nothing of material value was produced. It's not just the institutions that are forming the ponzi scheme, it's also the thousands of speculators who expect to profit from this nonsense. I have no sympathy for any of them

OneCoin was a pretty harmless cryptocurrency

[spazmonkey]

The judge attacked it for having "no blockchain", but that seems to me to be a good thing. Sure it was also scam with no inherent value, but unlike the other cryptocurrencies this one didn't require a massive carbon footprint and burning down huge sections of the rainforest in order to fleece it's marks.
So all in all, it seems a far better solution than traditional cryptocurrencies, not worse. This way, only the suckers lose, not everyone else on the planet too.

Re:OneCoin was a pretty harmless cryptocurrency

[The Evil Atheist]

You are technically correct. The best kind of correct.

It's funny to think that these kunts are actually the least worst, compared to the Satoshis, SBFs, and CZs of the world.

Re:

[eneville]

Where they went wrong was it was money /dev/null as they wouldn't let investors have their money back and they went on the run.

No shït Sherlock ;)

[Mirnotoriety]

No shït Sherlock ;)

Notes:

[Baron_Yam]

"OneCoin had no blockchain, no real cryptocoin and no trading market" ...Thus immediately rendering it far better for society than any other cryptocoin.

Re:

[Opportunist]

Or at least better for the environment. It's a green cryptocurrency. Sure it's a scam, it's green AND a cryptocurrency, how could it not?

Duh.

Don't sell! HODL your OneCoin!

[iAmWaySmarterThanYou]

It can only go up!

Chickenfeed

[VeryFluffyBunny]

This is what you get because of "light touch" financial regulation but while $4 billion seems a lot for a little start-up that was especially successful, just imagine how much fraud & other crimes the big banks are getting away with? We're poor, our countries are crumbling, & a small minority of individuals have become obscenely rich because our financial services are provided by a bunch of crooks who've captured their regulators & can do pretty much whatever they want.

Is this like NoSQL?

[chas.williams]

Is NoBlockchain the alternative to traditional blockchains? It uses very little energy, is very fast to update, and is easy to store. It sounds perfect. Why don't all cryptocurrencies switch to NoBlockchain?