Two of the fourteen OneCoin defendants in Argentina entered guilty pleas, and the two have now received jail sentences.
Aldo Leguizamón and Adolfo Dominguez will each serve terms of three years, six months, and four years, three months, respectively.
As La Nacion reported on November 7th, Dominguez and Leguizamon’s guilty pleas led to their convictions.
Recognize their deliberate involvement in the crime, i.e., that they participated in a criminal group that was focused on selling a purported cryptocurrency, freely and voluntarily.
The existence of the cryptocurrencies that were touted as lucrative business opportunities was established to be false.
They were a “ploy utilized by the defendants to conceal a pyramid scheme,” but “they were not real.”
In 2020, Argentine authorities conducted their first OneCoin arrests. The number of suspects apprehended increased to fourteen in 2021.
Despite being charged, three further suspects are still at large;
OneCoin’s creator, Ruja Ignatova, has been missing since 2017. Ruja’s brother Konstantin Ignatov was detained in the US in 2019; he has since admitted guilt and is awaiting punishment.
Jose Gordo, a Spanish native who handled OneCoin fraud in Latin America, is still at large and pushing Ponzi schemes to Latin Americans. He also served as OneCoin’s top earner.
It is unknown if Gordo’s international arrest warrant has been requested by Argentinian authorities (right).
Gordo is thought to reside in Spain, but the Spanish government has not yet taken any action against him.
The defense of the twelve Argentinian OneCoin defendants who remained as of September 2021 concentrated on recruiting police personnel.
It’s doubtful that it would hold up in court because it is a strawman defense that doesn’t defend their deceit.
According to La Nacion, the OneCoin criminal case’s “illicit association” portion is present in the trial phase. When the case will be over its whole remains a mystery.
I don’t expect any surprises given the two guilty pleas that have already been submitted. We’ll keep you updated as the case progresses and long jail terms are anticipated.
