Headline: FBI gives OneCoin victims final warning — file claims by June 30 to access $40m relief fund
The FBI is urging victims of the OneCoin fraud to submit compensation claims before the June 30 deadline as part of a Department of Justice remission program. The effort targets people who sustained a net financial loss from OneCoin purchases between 2014 and 2019.
What victims need to know
- The DOJ’s remission process is being handled at onecoinremission.com by Kroll Settlement Administration. Victims can file petitions online, by mail or by email.
- The process is free, but submitting a petition does not guarantee a payout. Any award will be partial and calculated after accounting for withdrawals victims may already have made.
- The FBI stressed that justice.gov and onecoinremission.com are the only official sites for information about this process and warned victims to be wary of fake recovery agents who target fraud survivors.
Funds and legal context
- The remission program will draw from more than $40 million in forfeited assets recovered from people tied to OneCoin. The DOJ first announced the $40m compensation fund in April.
- OneCoin, launched in Bulgaria in 2014, was marketed by founders Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood as a rival to Bitcoin — even labeled a “Bitcoin killer.” Prosecutors say the project operated as a multi-level marketing scheme: investors bought packages that supposedly included tokens for mining OneCoin and were encouraged to recruit others. Authorities say the product had no real value and global losses exceeded $4 billion.
Prosecutions and the hunt for Ignatova
- Karl Sebastian Greenwood was arrested in Thailand in 2018, extradited to the U.S., and in September 2023 was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $300 million.
- Ruja Ignatova, who led OneCoin until October 2017, remains at large. She was charged in the Southern District of New York, added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in June 2022, and the U.S. Department of State is offering up to $5 million for information leading to her arrest or conviction.
Official statements and next steps
- FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said victims were misled by false statements and empty promises and reiterated the FBI’s commitment to “returning these stolen funds to their rightful owners.”
- U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton has called OneCoin “a lie disguised as cryptocurrency.”
If you believe you are a OneCoin victim, file a remission petition at onecoinremission.com (or through the mail/email options listed there) before June 30. Victims of other crypto investment fraud should report incidents to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). The FBI also accepts tips through its official tip line and online portal. After June 30, late claims may not be considered.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
