OneCoin co-conspirator asks for more time to prepare motion for acquittal
Mark Scott, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wants more time to prepare his motions for a new trial and acquittal.
The proceedings against individuals linked to fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin continue at the New York Southern District Court.
On December 4, 2019, Mark Scott, who was found guilty of laundering $400 million of OneCoin’s proceeds, submitted a Letter at the Court asking for more time to file Rule 29 and Rule 33 motions, that is, the motions for acquittal and retrial. Currently, the deadline for submitting these motions is December 20, 2019.
The defendant requests that the Court extend this deadline by one month, to January 20, 2020. This is set to allow Scott and counsel sufficient time to review the factual and legal issues that may be relevant to such motions. The Government has no objection to this request and proposes to submit any opposition by February 10, 2020 or make a subsequent application for an extension.
In November, Mark Scott was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and bank fraud.
The conviction followed a three-week trial before the Honorable Edgardo Ramos of the New York Southern District Court. Scott, a former equity partner at the law firm Locke Lord LLP, laundered approximately $400 million in proceeds of OneCoin through fraudulent investment funds that he set up and operated for that purpose. Scott was paid more than $50 million for his money laundering services, which he used to buy luxury cars, a yacht, and several seaside homes.
Beginning in 2016, Scott formed a series of fake private equity investment funds in the British Virgin Islands known as the “Fenero Funds.” He then disguised incoming transfers of approximately $400 million into the Fenero Funds as investments from “wealthy European families,” when in fact the money represented proceeds of the OneCoin fraud scheme.
Scott was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 30 years in prison.
