US Govt no longer seeks to admit testimony of Bank of Ireland employees in OneCoin case
The parties in the criminal proceedings have reached agreement on a stipulation related to certain anticipated witness testimony.
The United States Government has filed a Letter with the New York Southern District Court, clarifying the outcome of the discussions concerning witness testimony by several Bank of Ireland employees in the criminal proceedings against Mark Scott, accused of aiding and abetting fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme OneCoin.
In the Letter submitted to the Court on October 16, 2019, the Government writes to inform the Court that the parties have reached agreement on a stipulation related to certain anticipated witness testimony, which was the subject of the Government’s Motion pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 15, filed on September 29, 2019.
“The Government therefore no longer seeks to admit the testimony of those witnesses at trial, thereby mooting the pending Rule 15 Motion”, the Letter says.
Let’s recall that, on September 29, 2019, the United States Government submitted a Motion with the Court asking to offer the testimony of four witnesses during trial via two-way closed-circuit television from a remote location in the Republic of Ireland. The witnesses are all present or former employees of the Bank of Ireland, where Mark Scott maintained corporate bank accounts through which he is alleged to have laundered over $300 million in OneCoin fraud proceeds, accomplished through, among other means, misrepresentations made by the defendant to the witnesses.
The first witness was supposed to be Deirdre Ceannt, who, between 2014 and 2017 worked in the Foreign Direct Investment team at BOI. The second witness was supposed to be Derek Collins, who served as Executive Vice President and Relationship Director for BOI in 2016. The third witness was set to be Diane Sands, the head of the bank’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) team. Finally, Greg Begley was poised to provide material and relevant evidence that he received and processed the paperwork submitted by the defendant for the BOI Fenero Accounts.
Mark Scott has opposed the Government’s Motion, arguing that the request for a deposition comes far too late. Further, he noted that the Government asked the Court to use a rare procedure “heretofore reserved for mobsters and terrorists”. Scott also said that “these Bank of Ireland employees are a far cry from the crucial witnesses the Government makes them out to be”.
The trial of Mark Scott is currently scheduled to begin on November 4, 2019.
