Carl Greenwood, 45, was arrested in Thailand in 2018 and extradited to the United States for his role in the sale of cryptocurrency OneCoin, an alleged $4 billion pyramid scheme that federal prosecutors in Manhattan defrauded investors. He has been detained since his arrest.
The petition comes as prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) are increasingly prosecuting financial crimes involving digital assets. On Tuesday, prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX crypto exchange, accusing him of stealing billions in customer deposits.
“This IOU from OneCoin’s co-founder will be suspended for a week in SDNY, sending a clear signal that we are after anyone who seeks to exploit the cryptocurrency ecosystem through fraud,” Damian Williams, a top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement. .
According to prosecutors, Greenwood founded OneCoin in 2014 in Sofia, Bulgaria, with Ruja Ignatova, a German national also known as the “Crypto Queen,” prosecutors say. The FBI named her to its top ten most wanted list in June, and prosecutors said Friday that she remains at large.
A Greenwood attorney declined to comment. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5 for the three charges to which he has pleaded guilty.
Bankman-Fried admitted to mistakes in risk management at FTX but said he did not believe he was criminally responsible. He is currently being held in the Bahamas, where FTX is located, and is fighting an extradition request to the United States.
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