Officers with the US Justice Division have arrested and charged William Morro for financial institution fraud in reference to the OneCoin crypto scheme.
In response to April 23 filings in U.S. District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York, Morro was accountable for transferring $35 million in funds linked to OneCoin from financial institution accounts in China to 1 in Hong Kong in 2016. The superseding indictment alleged that Morro moved greater than $6 million from the Hong Kong account to a U.S. one he managed as a part of a scheme to defraud.
Morro voluntarily surrendered to authorities and pleaded responsible to 1 rely of conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud. He has been launched on his personal recognizance till a sentencing listening to scheduled for Aug. 1. Justice Division officers included an order of forfeiture associated to the illicit property within the OneCoin case.
Stories prompt that Morro was linked to Gilbert Armenta, the boyfriend of OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova. Armenta was sentenced to 5 years in jail in 2023 for his function in laundering roughly $300 million associated to the OneCoin scheme. Morro is listed as a managing associate of the InterAmerican Group and a board member of AEE Energy.
What data prompted U.S. officers to convey a superseding indictment in opposition to Morro roughly eight years after his alleged fraudulent actions is unclear. The Justice Division has charged a number of people for his or her roles within the OneCoin scheme, together with lawyer Mark Scott, former head of authorized and compliance Irina Dilkinska, and co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood.
Ignatova, also referred to as the ‘CryptoQueen,’ has been charged within the U.S. however remained at giant on the time of publication. She is at the moment on the FBI’s listing of the ten most needed fugitives.
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In response to the April 23 filings, Morro retained Mark Cohen and Jonathan Abernethy of the legislation agency Cohen and Gresser. Cohen famously represented Sam Bankman-Fried throughout his 2023 felony trial, during which the previous FTX CEO was convicted of seven felony counts and later sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Based in 2014, OneCoin was uncovered as a fraudulent crypto scheme in 2015, defrauding buyers out of roughly $4 billion. In Morro’s case, a cost of conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud may carry a sentence of as much as 30 years in jail.
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