Trial of Mark Scott, accused of laundering $400m for OneCoin, gets adjourned
The October 7, 2019 jury trial of Mark Scott is rescheduled for November 4, 2019.
The criminal proceedings against the individuals behind fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin continue at the New York Southern District Court. The list of defendants in the criminal action brought by the US Government includes Konstantin Ignatov, the leader of OneCoin, his sister – Ruja Ignatova, as well as Mark S. Scott, a US citizen and attorney.
Late last week, the Court adjourned the start of the trial against Scott, who stands accused of laundering $400 million of proceeds for OneCoin.
According to the latest Court filings in this matter, seen by FinanceFeeds, the trial of Scott, which was initially set for October 7, 2019, is adjourned to Monday, November 4, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. A final pretrial conference will be held on October 28, 2019.
In this decision to reschedule the start of the trial, the Court sided with the US Government, which had earlier requested the adjournment. The Prosecution Team said it has yet to receive over 70,000 documents that the Government seized from the defendant’s residences pursuant to search warrants.
The Prosecution Team had argued it would not have a reasonable amount of time to review and make use of potentially critical evidence, such as the defendant’s emails and text messages with co-conspirators, unless the October 7 trial is adjourned.
Scott, who was employed for a portion of the relevant time period as a partner at an international law firm, is accused of having organized, owned, operated a series of investment funds known as the “Fenero Funds,” which he used for the purpose of laundering OneCoin fraud proceeds. Scott is alleged to have engaged in a scheme to launder approximately $400 million of OneCoin proceeds through the Fenero Funds and related entities between approximately 2016 and 2018.
Ultimately, according to the allegations against Scott, he transferred millions of dollars of OneCoin proceeds into the United States for his own personal use, including to purchase multi-million dollar homes, a yacht, and luxury cars.
On August 21, 2018, a Grand Jury sitting in the Southern District of New York returned a sealed one-count indictment, charging Scott with conspiracy to commit money laundering. The Indictment alleges that from at least 2016 through 2018, the defendant conspired to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of approximately $400 million in proceeds of a pyramid scheme involving a purported cryptocurrency known as ‘OneCoin.’
On September 5, 2018, federal agents arrested Scott in Barnstable, Massachusetts, and the Indictment was unsealed. The same day, filter team agents executed judicially authorized search warrants at the defendant’s residences in Massachusetts and Florida, and recovered numerous electronic devices, hard copy documents, watches, handbags, and jewelry, among other items, pursuant to those search warrants.
