- A claim will be brought in the High Court in London on behalf of OneCoin investors who suffered losses as a result of the OneCoin cryptocurrency fraud
- It is estimated that the fraudulent scheme – which marketed a fake cryptocurrency and acted as a Ponzi scheme - took in more than $4bn dollars from investors globally
- The defendants to the litigation will include, among others, Ruja Ignatova, co-founder of OneCoin
- Ignatova, once the public face of OneCoin, has not been seen publicly since October 2017, and her current whereabouts are unknown
- Mishcon de Reya LLP has been instructed to bring the claim by Jen McAdams, the well-known UK-based OneCoin victim advocate and author of the book "Devil's Coin"
A civil claim to be brought in London's High Court offers a new hope of redress to victims of the OneCoin cryptocurrency fraud worldwide.
OneCoin was launched in 2014 as a cryptocurrency to rival Bitcoin and promised investors significant returns on their investment. In fact, OneCoin was not a legitimate cryptocurrency at all, and was operated as a Ponzi scheme which defrauded investors around the world.
The claim, which will be brought by a class of defrauded OneCoin investors, by leading London-based international law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP, will target one of the founders of OneCoin – Ruja Ignatova (the self-proclaimed "Crypto Queen"), as well as various others who were involved in the fraudulent scheme.
The aim is to recover for investors the losses they suffered at the hands of those who perpetrated the fraud.
The claim will be brought on an "opt-in" basis. This means that OneCoin investors who fell victim to the fraud will have to confirm that they want to be added to the claim as a member of the claimant group. The claim will be brought on a "no win no fee" basis.
Investors who are not part of the investor group will not be entitled to receive any recoveries that may be obtained as a result of the litigation. Those investors in OneCoin who believe they may be entitled to join the claim should visit OneCoinClaim Justice for Victims for full details.
Rhymal Persad, Partner at Mishcon de Reya, said:
“The fraudulent OneCoin scheme concocted by Ruja Ignatova and others greatly impacted the lives of its victims who ranged from sophisticated to lay investors.
“The forthcoming claim in the High Court in London aims to achieve at least partial redress for those investors who were taken in by the deception and who suffered losses as a result".
The claim is currently in the "building" stage, where investors who were victims of the OneCoin fraud, and who have a valid claim, are identified so that they can form part of the claimant group.