US lawyer linked to ‘$4bn OneCoin fraud’ has Irish connections

A lawyer arrested Stateside in connection with an alleged $4 billion OneCoin fraud was a director of six companies in Ireland and operated a number of bank accounts there, The Sunday Times reports.

Mark S Scott stands accused of laundering approximately $400 million through hedge funds in the Cayman Islands and sending the majority of these funds back to his colleagues.

OneCoin was founded in 2014 by Bulgarian businesswoman Ruja Ignatova. In 2017, the government of Kazakhstan clamped down on the company, labelling it a Ponzi scheme. It has also been the subject of investigations in India and China.

Nonetheless, it is ploughing ahead and, in January, claimed that its cryptocurrency ONE was “a step closer to being listed on an exchange”.

Scott Thompson

Scott has been working in technology and business journalism for nearly 20 years, with a focus on FinTech, retail, payments and disruptive technology. He has been Editor of such titles as FStech, Retail Systems and IBS Journal and also contributed to the likes of Retail Technology Innovation Hub, PaymentEye, bobsguide, Essential Retail, Open Banking Hub, TechHQ and Internet of Business.