Extra: OneCoin Greenwood Gets 20 Years in Prison For Fraud After Cited Mafia Case to Seal Letters

More (including analysis and courtroom detail) below the fold / paywall line

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast Filing

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Sept 12 -- For money laundering for scam crypto currency OneCoin, lawyer Mark Scott was convicted by a jury after testimony by Konstantin Ignatov and others but was allowed to remain free on bail pending sentencing.

On September 12, 2023 Judge Ramos sentenced OneCoin co-founder Sebastian Greenwood to twenty years in prison. Inner City Press was there and live tweeted, thread here:

Greenwood is in MDC jail tan uniform, with four lawyers here. One introduces his parents and "friends" here in the courtroom - who sealed their letters.

AUSA Folly: This is the culmination [What about Ruja? Frank Schneider, on the lam?]

Folly: #OneCoin was a fraud

Folly: We request 30 years. This was the largest - $4 billion in losses, worldwide. In Madoff, 90% was returned. Here, near zero. Greenwood toured the globe lying this was going to be the next Bitcoin.

 AUSA Folly: Greenwood did it to fund his opulent lifestyle: a Sunseeker yacht -- Judge: What was he doing before? Folly; 2014, an earlier fraud, Bigcoin, with Ignaotva. OneCoin was worse. It used MLM

 Folly: Greenwood targeted the unbanked. Then in private he called them idiots. Money was drawn from college funds. It was laundered. [Mark Scott still out of jail; Armenta light sentence with much sealed and redacted] Folly: The Scott trial showed the maze

 Folly: Greenwood was working at KPMG. But he was greedy. His submission feign kindness [Largely sealed; US Attorney's Office "took no position" on sealing] Folly: Ebbers [of WorldCom], it was a legitimate company. Ebbers got 25 years, though sick.

 Folly: Madoff ripped off thousands [of victims], Greenwood, millions. 30 years, we request. Greenwood's lawyer Potter: He waived Speedy Trial. He has already paid for his crimes. Consider his humanity. He deserves a time served sentence.

Potter: This is not terrorism. Karl has been stripped of his humanity while in prison in these times. The UN has criticized his Thai prison. [Cites her memo, which she sealed]

 Potter: Then he was in the MCC, in 2019 for the death of Epstein, resulting in lockdown. Then MDC.  [She cites exhibits, which she also sealed from the public; now cites Judge Ramos' sentencing of Gilbert Armenta]. He has family and [secret] friends

Potter: We submitted 33 letters [each and every one sealed in full] He was far from his family. He's not eligible for good time credit. Ebbers did not plead guilty, and was released after 13 years.

Potter: They focus on loss amount Judge: Also the number of victims Potter: Karl pled... Mr Armenta had easier pre-sentence detention, with violence. Mr Scott has served only seven days

Potter: His family has suffered shame. As a non citizen he would likely be in a private prison. Give him a time served sentence, or home incarceration in Sweden. Folly: The guideline is sixty years. We're asking for half.

 Folly: Armenta was a cooperator. Greenwood hired him to launder money. Please ask if there any victims here. Judge Ramos: Are there? Silence. Greenwood's nameless friends smile. Greenwood: What I did was wrong. I passed out in Thailand. I prayed

Greenwood: Then I was in MCC. When I stand here [He is sitting. He is reading] Greenwood: I am sorry. I exploited their cryptocurrency drrams. This did not have to be my life. I have been able to help my family [Lawyer whispers] Greenwood: Unable

 Judge Ramos: Mr Greenwood, I sentence you to 240 months [Twenty years] for this massive fraud [Inner City Press will continue to push to unseal]

 Judge Ramos: He took everything from victims who could not afford to lose money. I have considered the conditions of confinement. But general deterrence is needed.  [Team Greenwood, many of them unnamed / sealed, look deflated. There is some hugging of comfort

 Potter: We believe this sentence is excessive. Judge Ramos: The foregoing constitutes the sentence.

On August 29, Greenwood's new lawyers from Patterson Belknap (and two already on the case counsel) filed a 55-page sentencing submission, redacting even the name of a case they cited and withholding an undisclosed number of exhibits. (They left in Greenwood's "MDC Transcript," now on Patreon here). They ask for time served. They quote "Karl's former driver in Thailand" - but redact the quote, and withhold the entire affidavit. This is unacceptable --

so Inner City Press filed to unseal. Judge Ramos  docketed it on August 30, and asked for response by September 6. That afternoon, Greenwood's counsel wrote in but did no provide a single unsealed document. Response here.

Inner City Press immediately replied Reply here.

After that, the US Attorney's Office filed a letter that it "takes no position" on the sealing - and, apparently, on the analogy of OneCoin victims to the Mob. And on September 7, the sealing of all of Greenwood's letters of support was approved.

On September 11, the US Attorney's Office - which took no position on all of the sentencing letters being sealed - filed a proposed forfeiture order for $300 million. Filing on Patreon here.

More (including analysis and courtroom detail) below the fold / paywall line here