The founders of the notorious OneCoin cryptocurrency scam have been handed substantial prison sentences by a German court.
In a verdict delivered on Monday in Münster, key accomplices implicated in the OneCoin crypto fraud were sentenced. The couple, Frank Ricketts and Manon Hubenthal, alongside a Munich-based lawyer, were found guilty of swindling approximately €320 million from nearly 90,000 victims of the OneCoin scheme across Europe. The lawyer, Martin Breidenbach, faced accusations of transferring €20 million to overseas accounts using false information.
Frank Ricketts received a 5-year jail term, while his spouse, Manon, was sentenced to 4 years. The lawyer, Martin Breidenbach, received a 2-year and nine-month prison sentence.
The German court mandated the confiscation of assets from each defendant. Manon was ordered to pay €43,500, Frank was required to pay almost €1.2 million, and the lawyer was directed to pay €627,000.
The convicted individuals had entered into an agreement with Ruja Ignatova, known as the ‘crypto queen,’ who spearheaded the OneCoin operation.
Ruja allegedly lured investors through lavish events held between 2014 and 2016. She is currently on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted fugitives list and has been wanted by Interpol since 2017.
Reports circulated in June 2023 that Ruja had been killed by a drug lord in Greece while aboard a yacht. However, the alleged murder occurred in November 2018. According to reports, notorious drug lord Hristoforos ‘Taki’ Amanatidis murdered Ruja to conceal his involvement in the OneCoin scam, dumping her body into the Ionian Sea off the coast of Greece.
Despite these reports, Ruja Ignatova’s profile remains on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation website, which offers a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to her arrest.
OneCoin is recognized as one of the largest cryptocurrency scams to date, raising a staggering $4 billion. The unraveling of the scheme began in 2016 when suspicions were raised. Subsequent investigations revealed transactions totaling €320 million within a week, with the convicted individuals earning millions in commission.
In June 2023, the US Department of Justice filed charges against Irina Dilkinska, a Bulgarian woman involved in the OneCoin crypto Ponzi scheme. She faced charges of wire fraud and money laundering, with each offense carrying a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.
