The ex-boyfriend of Ruja Ignatova, the mastermind of Ponzi scheme Onecoin, has been jailed for five years. The verdict comes in response to proceeds worth hundreds of millions of dollars laundered from the notorious crypto scam, which defrauded investors around the world.
Gilbert Armenta, ex-boyfriend of crypto pyramid Onecoin founder Ruja Ignatova, has been sentenced in the United States, Bloomberg reported. He helped launder $300 million in proceeds from one of the largest Ponzi schemes in crypto history, according to court documents.
In 2018, Armenta, 59, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering, all related to Onecoin. He cooperated with prosecutors investigating the scam for about two years, but later violated the agreement to commit other crimes.
Founded in 2014, Onecoin operates as a global multi-level marketing network based on a cryptocurrency that never really existed, despite being billed as a "bitcoin killer." According to Onecoin's own documents, more than 3 million people have invested more than $4 billion in Onecoin since 2016.
Bulgarian-born German national Ruja Ignatova disappeared in October 2017 when she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens. Still, she is wanted by Interpol, Europol and the FBI.
Her brother and co-founder Konstantin, who was detained in Los Angeles in 2019, pleaded guilty to Onecoin-related charges and sought witness protection in the United States. In December 2022, another co-founder, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, a British and Swedish citizen, also admitted his responsibility in the scam. Information about Ignatova's whereabouts and activities regularly emerged in media reports. Last July, Greece's main daily newspaper, Kathimerini, revealed that Greek police had acted on intelligence suggesting she was in the country and had met with unidentified individuals in an attempt to locate and arrest her.
In January, British media revealed that a $15 million apartment purchased by the “missing crypto queen” through a company based in Guernsey was put up for sale. A BBC report on the matter has revealed that the Kensington penthouse has been approved by German authorities.
Prosecutors in Bielefeld accused Martin Breidenbach, a German lawyer working for Ignatova, of transferring 20 million euros (more than $21 million) for money laundering to buy the four-bedroom apartment. In October, he appeared in court along with two Onecoin employees to face charges of fraud and other crimes.
