The former legal and compliance leader for the fraudulent OneCoin scheme received a four-year jail term after confessing to helping launder millions of dollars.
Irina Dilkinska, 42, was given a four-year sentence by United States District Judge Edgardo Ramos on Wednesday as per an April 3 statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. In addition to serving jail time, she was ordered to pay $111 million in restitution and placed under one month of supervised release.
Judge Ramos refused Dilkinska's request to avoid prison and return to Bulgaria to look after her children. He stated that she was well aware of the legal repercussions of her actions while participating in the $4 billion Ponzi scheme and should have known better, considering her high intelligence. Dilkinska had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges back on Nov. 10, each carrying a potential maximum prison term of five years, with a possibility of facing 10 years.
Dilkinska is the most recent OneCoin executive to be imprisoned in connection to the fraud. The scheme, established by Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood in 2014, falsely promised investors guaranteed returns through a fictitious cryptocurrency called "OneCoin." Despite the revelation of fraudulent activities in 2015, OneCoin managed to accumulate significant revenue, reaching over $4.3 billion, with profits nearing $3 billion from 2014 to 2016.
Ignatova, popularly known as the "Cryptoqueen," disappeared in October 2017, shortly following an arrest warrant being released. Allegations following this disappearance included her possible murder, indicated by multiple OneCoin associates found dead in Mexico in 2020. Karl Sebastian Greenwood, the scheme's co-founder, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in fraud and money laundering.
Overall, despite its exposure as a Ponzi scheme, OneCoin continued to flourish due to its deceptive tactics.
