Irina Dilkinska, the former head of legal and compliance for the massive OneCoin fraud scheme, has been sentenced to four years in prison after confessing to her involvement in money laundering. The 42-year-old was sentenced by United States District Judge Edgardo Ramos, as stated in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office on April 3. Along with her prison sentence, Dilkinska was also given one month of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $111 million as restitution. Dilkinska had requested to avoid jail time and return home to care for her young children in Bulgaria, but Judge Ramos denied her request, according to a report from Bloomberg on April 3.
Judge Ramos characterized Dilkinska as “a woman of great intelligence and a woman who ought to have known better.” He emphasized that she was fully aware of the legal consequences of her actions while participating in the $4 billion Ponzi scheme. Ramos expressed confusion as to why Dilkinska did not leave the scheme before its downfall, stating, “I honestly do not understand what prevented her from leaving the scheme before the point when it was brought down.”
Dilkinska had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges in a federal court in Manhattan on November 10. Each charge carried a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, potentially resulting in a total of 10 years imprisonment for Dilkinska.
Dilkinska joins the growing list of OneCoin executives who have been sentenced to prison for their involvement in the fraudulent scheme. Last year on September 12, co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of fraud and money laundering. Greenwood was also ordered to pay $300 million in restitution.
OneCoin, founded by “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova and Greenwood in 2014, promised investors guaranteed returns through a fictitious cryptocurrency called “OneCoin.” However, it was later discovered that the company never established a functional blockchain and instead operated as a pyramid scheme, earning money by paying commissions to investors for recruiting new buyers.
Ignatova, who is still at large, disappeared in October 2017 after a federal warrant was issued for her arrest. There are speculations that Ignatova may have been killed, particularly following the murders of various OneCoin associates in Mexico in 2020.
Although OneCoin was exposed as fraudulent in 2015, it managed to generate over $4.3 billion in revenue and record profits of nearly $3 billion between 2014 and 2016.