William Morro, an accomplice in the OneCoin crypto fraud scheme, was arrested and charged on April 23 by the United States Department of Justice for his role in the multi-billion dollar scam orchestrated by Ruja Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood, Tuesday court documents reveal.
William Morro Arrested In OneCoin Crypto Fraud Scheme
According to the court filing, Morro has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in connection with the infamous crypto case.
“In or about 2016, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, William Morro, the defendant, and others known and unknown, willfully and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together and with each other to commit an offense against the United States, to wit, bank fraud” the filing read.
U.S. officials arrest William Morro for bank fraud, alleging he moved $35 million linked to the #OneCoin crypto scheme in 2016. #BankFraud #CryptoNews pic.twitter.com/GUZJ9m2oTn
— 1ATH.Studio (@1ATHStudio) April 24, 2024
According to prosecutors, Morro shuffled an estimated $35 million in OneCoin funds through an account in Hong Kong as well as $6 million to an account stateside.
Morro’s arrest marks the latest development in the years-long crypto ponzi scheme that saw $4 billion of investor funds drained worldwide.
OneCoin Co-founder Raja Ignatova On FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives List
Businessman Karl Sebastian Greenwood and Bulgarian “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova founded the now worthless OneCoin in 2014 in a move prosecutors allege went to fuel their “extravagant lifestyles.”
Greenwood was hit with a $300 million fine and sentenced to two decades in federal prison last September for orchestrating the scheme, while Ignatova remains at large as one of the FBI’s list of top ten most wanted fugitives.
“As a founder and leader of OneCoin, Karl Sebastian Greenwood operated one of the largest fraud schemes ever perpetrated.,” U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said in a September 2023 statement. “Greenwood and his co-conspirators, including fugitive Ruja Ignatova, conned unsuspecting victims out of billions of dollars… OneCoins were entirely worthless, and investors were left with nothing, while Greenwood lined his own pockets with over $300 million.”
Morro’s guilty plea comes just weeks after OneCoin’s Head of Legal and Compliance, Irina Dilkinska, was sentenced to four years for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors argued that Dilkinska laundered money for the once fraudulently proclaimed Bitcoin rival, including transferring over $110 million of unauthorized funds to an entity in the Cayman Islands.
Ignatova was last seen in October 2017 traveling from Bulgaria to Greece. The FBI is offering a $250,000 reward for any information that leads to the purported queen of crypto’s arrest.
Morro, who has been ordered to forfeit any illicit digital assets obtained through OneCoin, is set to be sentenced on August 1.
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