Resident of Bulgaria was extradited to the USA to stand trial in the case of fraud and money laundering of the financial pyramid OneCoin.

Irina Dilkinska, 41, was the head of legal compliance at OneCoin and allegedly helped OneCoin launder millions of dollars of illegal proceeds through shell companies.

OneCoin was created by Ruja Ignatova in 2014, who remains at large after being accused of fraud and money laundering in 2017. The FBI is even offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to her arrest. Another co-founder of OneCoin, Carl Greenwood, pleaded guilty on similar charges in December in New York.

Prosecutors said that OneCoin was positioned as a “digital currency that is based on cryptography”, similar to the Bitcoin system. However, OneCoin lacks the elements inherent in cryptocurrencies, including the lack of blockchain technology.

A company from Sofia, Bulgaria used global multi-level (network) marketing (MLM) to attract customers. However, as of November 2019, the company continued to attract new customers. According to various estimates, from € 4 to 15 billion were invested in the pyramid around the world.

According to prosecutors, Dilkinskaya’s job at OneCoin was to assist “in the creation and management of shell companies for the purpose of laundering OneCoin proceeds and withholding property belonging to Ignatova.” One example was a scheme to launder about $400 million in OneCoin proceeds “through a series of fake Cayman Islands investment funds” run by Mark Scott, a lawyer who was convicted in 2019 of bank fraud and money laundering.

According to prosecutors, Dilkinska used a shell company called “B&N Consult EEOD” that “brought no legitimate income” and was used solely to launder OneCoin funds.

Bulgarian authorities and the Criminal Investigation Division of the US Internal Revenue Service provided assistance in the Dilkinskaya case. Electronic fraud and money laundering charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.