Irina Dilkinska Receives 4-Year Prison Sentence in OneCoin Fraud Case

OneCoin’s former legal and compliance officer, Irina Dilkinska, has been handed a significant prison sentence by US District Judge Edgardo Ramos. The court sentenced her to four years in federal prison for her central role in one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most notorious fraud operations.

The charges against Dilkinska are severe. She was accused of orchestrating money laundering operations connected to OneCoin and facilitating the transfer of approximately $110 million in fraud proceeds to offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. In November of the previous year, Dilkinska pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to fraud and money laundering. Beyond her prison term, the court ordered her to forfeit $111,440,000 in assets tied to the scheme.

Dilkinska was arrested in Bulgaria and subsequently extradited to the United States in March 2023 to face justice. “Irina Dilkinska’s participation in the OneCoin pyramid scheme represented a flagrant disregard for the law,” stated US Attorney Damian Williams. “Rather than upholding legal standards, she actively laundered illicit funds and enabled the exploitation of millions of innocent victims.”

The OneCoin operation itself was based in Sofia, Bulgaria, and deployed a multi-level marketing strategy to promote and trade what was later proven to be a fraudulent cryptocurrency. The scheme attracted over $4 billion in investments from people who were misled by false claims about OneCoin’s legitimacy and value.

This case is part of a broader pattern of accountability in the OneCoin investigation. Mark Scott, a former attorney at the US law firm Locke Lord, previously received a 10-year prison sentence for his involvement with OneCoin. Meanwhile, Ruja Ignatova, the scheme’s primary architect, vanished in October 2017 after learning about police investigations into the operation and has not been located since.

The Dilkinska verdict underscores the legal system’s commitment to holding professionals accountable when they enable financial fraud at scale, particularly when their actions result in the victimization of millions globally.