Key takeaways:
- Pending his appeal, Mark Scott, a lawyer associated with the OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme recently found guilty of fraud and money laundering, has been granted bail.
- Regarding Scott’s health concerns, some of the court files had been suppressed, which his legal team claimed did not put him at risk of flying.
Pending his appeal, Mark Scott, a lawyer associated with the OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme recently found guilty of fraud and money laundering, has been granted bail.
Judge Edgardo Ramos granted Scott bail three months after the attorney was sentenced to ten years in prison, according to a filing made on April 18 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Regarding Scott’s health concerns, some of the court files had been suppressed, which his legal team claimed did not put him at risk of flying. Judge Ramos stated:
“Based on the record before the Court, given Scott’s medical conditions and because he has not been charged with a violent crime, the Court does not find that Scott is likely to flee or pose a danger to the safety of any other person or the community if allowed to remain on bail,”
Judge Ramos stated that he doubted that Scott’s conviction would be overturned but noted that the arguments addressed were not insignificant or easily ignored. The ramifications are so great that a successful appeal can force a new trial or the overturning of the convictions.
According to a notification filed on February 7, there were “substantial questions” of law to consider in a potential appeal. Prosecutors utilized Konstantin Ignatov’s testimony despite Scott’s defense team’s contention that the OneCoin scam leader and brother of Ruja “Cryptoqueen” Ignatova had lied to them.
Scott was found guilty by a jury in November 2019 of conspiring to commit bank fraud and money laundering in connection with his role in using OneCoin to launder millions of dollars. Ruja Ignatova, a co-founder of OneCoin, gave the lawyer instructions on how to launder funds.
In September 2023, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, one of OneCoin’s co-founders, was ordered to pay $300 million in reparations to the company’s victims and received a 20-year sentence for fraud and money laundering.
On April 3, Irinia Dilkinska, the former chief compliance officer of OneCoin, entered a guilty plea to two felonies and was given a four-year prison sentence.
