Chinese prosecutors have charged the last four suspects in a total 98
individuals involved in an estimated $2.3 billion domestic OneCoin
operation, a purported digital currency scheme widely seen as a fraud.
According to a news release by the Zhuzhou Procuratorate’s office in the Hunan province, a two-year
investigation into a colossal pyramid scheme that spanned twenty
Chinese provinces has seen over 100 arrests of individuals involved in
OneCoin, known as ‘Weika Coin’ in China.
The report reveals that authorities examined 106 suspects in total
before publicly prosecuting 98 individuals in total including the recent
prosecutions for soliciting money from investors that may have totaled
some 15 billion yuan, a little over $2.3 billion in current prices. A
number of those prosecuted have already been sentenced to four years in
prison for organizing and leading the pyramid scheme with fines ranging
from 10,000 yuan to 5 million yuan (between $1,500 – $780,000
approximately).
The bust, authorities claim,
is the largest MLM case ever investigated in the Hunan province with
some 20,000 bank accounts analyzed to look into “tens of millions” of
transactions over the course of the two-year investigation.
As of May this year, the OneCoin operation in China reportedly
contained over 140 member levels with some 2 million registered member
accounts funding capital through 27 pool accounts, Chinese publication Legal Daily revealed.
State-funded publication The Paper adds that a total of 119 suspects were arrested in connection with the
pyramid scheme. Authorities have, so far, managed to recover nearly 1.7
billion yuan (approx. $266 million).
Founded by Ruja Ignatova, a Bulgarian national, OneCoin has been
heavily scrutinized by a number of global law enforcement agencies for
years. Authorities in Belgium, Hungary and the UK warned the public against OneCoin in 2016. . In June 2017, Indian police charged her and five other senior OneCoin promoters, labeling it a “clear ponzi scheme.”
A consumer watchdog in Italy also labeled it a pyramid scheme last year before police in Finland announced the results of its own crackdown on a domestic OneCoin operation.
Earlier this year, the Bulgarian Special Prosecutor’s Office raided local offices as a part of a wider international crackdown on the fraudulent scheme.
This article comes from ccn.com immediately removed if infringement.
