A Suspicious Exercise Report from Mashreq Financial institution has supplied perception into OneCoin’s ~2015 banking woes.
The report, filed by the Mashreq Financial institution’s Audit, Fraud & Compliance Group, is dated September 1st, 2015.
Affected prospects listed are
OneCoin Restricted, a shell firm arrange within the UAE in June 2014;- Prosperia FZE, one other shell firm arrange within the UAE in Could 2014;
- Martin Rudolf Alexander Breidenbach, a OneCoin director and named accomplice of of the regulation agency Breidenbach Rechtsanwalte;
- Ruja Ignatova (above proper), OneCoin co-founder and CEO; and
- Sebastian Greenwood, OneCoin co-founder Grasp Distributor.
OneCoin represented to Mashreq Financial institution that each OneCoin Restricted and Prosperia FZE had been “administration consultancy” companies.
- OneCoin Restricted was arrange by Martin Breidenbach (German passport), Ruja Ignatova (German passport) and Sebastian Greenwood (Swedish passport)
- Propseria FZE was arrange by Martin Breidenbach (German passport), Ruja Ignatova (German passport) and Nicholas David Cully (British passport)
On paper Breidenbach (proper) was 100% proprietor of each shell firms.
Ignatova, Greenwood and Cully had been designated Energy of Attorneys.
Nicholas Cully is a brand new identify to me.
Cully (proper) works as Group Gross sales Director at The Sovereign Group.
The Sovereign Group seem to focus on shell firm formation in dodgy jurisdictions.
Mashreq Financial institution’s information present that accounts arrange by means of OneCoin’s shell firms transferred over $200 million {dollars}.
Stolen OneCoin investor funds seem to have been primarily routed from HSBC accounts in Hong Kong.
Triggered by the sum of money flowing between the accounts, Mashreq Financial institution launched an investigation.
The financial institution concluded
the corporate declared on the time of the account opening (that) OneCoin Restricted is into administration consultancy companies; nonetheless, this exercise has not been noticed within the account.
The account turnover is way increased than the one declared on the time of the account opening.
Account was funded by means of inward remittances from a number of people and entities positioned in Bulgaria, Kuala Lumpur, Estonia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mexico, US, Gibraltar, and Australia and having goal of fee as “username”, “Advertising and academic packages”, “fee for gear” or “fee for schooling”.
When queried on outward transactions, OneCoin produced bogus contract invoices exhibiting the corporate was buying “flash video games” (suppose crappy browser video games that had been a factor within the late 2000s).
It was famous that the funds had been initiated for buy of “Flash Video games” which isn’t consistent with firm’s line of enterprise.
The contract, with no reference of our prospects, was dated 3 August 2015. I.e. put up our EDD question.
Moreover, the value talked about on the contract gave the impression to be inflated.
As an example EUR 70,000/- for roughly 80 video games; nonetheless, as per public area, such video games are quoted as lower than EUR 100/- per recreation.
Mashreq Financial institution’s prolonged due-diligence efforts on OneCoin led them to quite a lot of publications on the web, together with BehindMLM.
Contemplating the above info corroborated with the bizarre account exercise, we suspect OneCoin Restricted could also be engaged in a pyramid / Ponzi scheme.
In view of the above talked about salient factors of our evaluate, we take into account the account exercise suspicious / a Ponzi scheme.
We’re subsequently reporting our suspicion as required by the regulation.
Contemplating the chance related to these relationships, we’re in means of closing all of the accounts.
An hooked up “motion memo” exhibits a suggestion from the Anti-Cash Laundering and Suspicious Instances Unit of the Central Financial institution of the UAE, directing Mashreq Financial institution to “freeze all accessible balances within the accounts.”
The memo additionally notes “issues” from Bulgaria’s Monetary Intelligence Directorate had been obtained. No particular particulars are supplied.
There’s additionally “particular emphasis on workers collusion” talked about, suggesting Mashreq Financial institution workers might need been in on OneCoin’s cash laundering efforts.
Finally authorities in Dubai took no additional motion towards OneCoin or its principals.
Ruja Ignatova maintained UAE residence by means of Prosperia FZ, regardless of monetary authorities linking it to suspected monetary fraud.
Coinciding with Sebastian Greenwood’s arrest in Thailand in 2018, Dubai has emerged because the MLM rip-off capital of the world.
Many scammers have relocated there. The UAE has restricted extradition treaties and little to no native energetic regulation of MLM associated fraud.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE, Dubai particularly, is likely one of the few locations on the planet that also permits scammers to host reside advertising and marketing occasions.
One could level to Mashreq Financial institution’s SAR as proof of energetic regulation, nonetheless since 2015 the kind of scammer that relocates to Dubai is greater than doubtless scamming by means of cryptocurrency.
Issues have gotten so unhealthy over the previous few years that, anytime you see somebody in MLM having relocated to Dubai, assuming they’re abandoning a path of fraud elsewhere is a secure guess.
