Judge Rules Lawsuit Targeting Multi-Billion OneCoin Ponzi Can Proceed

Judge Valerie Caproni lifted the stay on a class-action lawsuit brought against the notorious crypto Ponzi scheme OneCoin 12 months ago.

An order signed by the New York District judge mandates that all parties must submit a proposed schedule for the defendants to respond to the complaint before May 9. The court order reads:

No later than May 8, 2020, the parties must jointly submit a proposed schedule for Defendants to answer, move to dismiss, or otherwise respond to the Amended Complaint.

According to documents filed April 27, defendants David Pike and Mark Scott objected to the stay being lifted, requesting its continuation “pending a final resolution of the criminal cases currently pending against each of them.”

Pike is facing charges of bank fraud, while Scott allegedly laundered $400 million on behalf of the fugitive OneCoin co-founder, Ruja Ignatova. 

OneCoin case to proceed after reporting failures from plaintiff

The stay followed consecutive failures on the part of the lead plaintiff, Donald Berdeaux, to adhere to monthly reporting deadlines set by the court.

The reports concerned efforts to serve OneCoin’s executives. In February, the lead plaintiff’s representation informed the court that OneCoin and Ignatova had been served via Ignatova’s last-known email address and that two other defendants would be dropped from the case. 

No further correspondence was made with the court until Judge Caproni threatened to nix the case on April 12.

On April 21, the plaintiffs’ representation, Levi & Korsinsky LLP, requested that the stay be lifted — asserting that the plaintiffs “are prepared to proceed with the litigation expeditiously.”

OneCoin scheme exhumed by top figure

During April, reports surfaced that Vietnam’s top OneCoin recruiter, Le Quoc-Hung (also known as Simon Le) has launched a near-identical fraud called OneLink.

Le positioned himself as the leading figure on the OneLink platform after OneCoin’s founders were either arrested or went into hiding. Since then, Le has used the platform to promote his new scheme.

Le is believed to be hiding in Dubai or Vietnam.