Judge Valerie Caproni has lifted the stay on a lawsuit filed against OneCoin, one of the largest cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes.
An order recently signed by the New York District judge requires all concerned parties to provide a schedule, which will request the defendants to submit a response to the complaint by May 8, 2020.
As noted in the court order:
“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.”
As mentioned in court papers submitted on April 27, 2020, defendants David Pike and Mark Scott had raised objections against the stay being lifted. They had asked for its continuation, “pending a final resolution of the criminal cases currently pending against each of them.”
Pike has been accused of committing banking fraud, meanwhile, Scott may be charged with allegedly laundering $400 million via a fraudulent crypto-related scheme, and on behalf of Ruja Ignatova, the OneCoin co-founder who still remains at large.
The stay had been placed after repeated failures on part of the plaintiff, Donald Berdeaux, to follow regular reporting obligations required by the court.
The reports involved efforts to serve the requests of OneCoin’s management. Earlier this year, Berdeaux’s representatives told the court that OneCoin’s executives were served through Ignatova’s email address. They also said that two other defendants would no longer be part of the case or lawsuit.
There was no further communication with the court until Judge Caproni warned that he would dismiss the case on April 12, 2020.
Levi & Korsinsky LLP, the law firm representing the plaintiff, requested on April 21 that the stay should be lifted. It confirmed that the plaintiffs are now ready to carry on with the litigation “expeditiously.”
Last month, reports had surfaced claiming that Vietnam’s OneCoin recruiter, Le Quoc-Hung had been promoting a similar fraudulent scheme, known as OneLink.
Le has reportedly claimed that he’s a leading supporter of the OneLink project, after OneCoin’s promoters were taken into police custody or have been hiding.
OneCoin was a major Ponzi scheme, which was promoted as a digital currency created by Bulgaria-based offshore companies OneCoin Ltd (registered in Dubai) and OneLife Network Ltd (registered in Belize).
Both companies were established by Ruja Ignatova and Sebastian Greenwood. OneCoin is described as a Ponzi scheme because of its organizational structure and the previous involvement of its promoters in similar fraudulent schemes. The Times said it’s “one of the biggest scams in history.”
