By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
BBC - Decrypt - LightRead - Honduras - Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE, May 12 -- 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 - 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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