US Justice Department opens victim claims process for the $4 billion OneCoin Ponzi scheme.
Regulation & Gov ·
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a compensation process for victims of OneCoin, the cryptocurrency scheme that defrauded investors of approximately $4 billion between 2014 and 2019 through a global multi-level-marketing network. Victims can now file petitions to claim a portion of over $40 million in forfeited assets through onecoinremission.com, administered by Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, with a deadline of June 30, 2026.
The available compensation funds result from successful prosecutions of OneCoin's leadership. Karl Sebastian Greenwood, co-founder of the scheme, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2023, with seized assets contributing to the victim compensation pool. However, Ruja Ignatova, the scheme's other co-founder known as the "Cryptoqueen," remains at large despite being added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list and Europol's most-wanted register, with a $5 million U.S. State Department bounty as of 2024.
The amount available for distribution represents a fraction of total victim losses, and questions persist about how remaining funds will be allocated and whether additional assets tied to OneCoin leadership will surface. The compensation process marks a formal step toward restitution but does not resolve the status of Ignatova's whereabouts or the full recovery of defrauded assets.