‘Cryptoqueen’ Sidekick Gets 20 Years For $4 Billion Ponzi

Karl Greenwood made $300 million promoting phony OneCoin
Ruja Ignatova remains a fugitive and on FBI’s most wanted list

OneCoin offices in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2019.Photographer: Cylonphoto/iStock Editorial/Shutterstock

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By Bob Van Voris and Yueqi Yang

September 12, 2023 at 4:05 PM UTC

Updated on

September 12, 2023 at 5:29 PM UTC

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The cofounder and main promoter of the $4 billion OneCoin pyramid scheme was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in one of the first and biggest criminal frauds involving cryptocurrency.

Karl Sebastian Greenwood, 46, was sentenced in New York Tuesday, after pleading guilty in December to creating and promoting a phony cryptocurrency. Greenwood was the wingman of Ruja Ignatova, the so-called “Cryptoqueen” and most wanted crypto fugitive in the world.