Thread: onecoin.eu ponzi scam

A little back story: Gilbert Armenta, a resident of Florida, was a key figure in OneCoin’s money laundering operations. He was also romantically linked to OneCoin’s founder, Ruja Ignatova. The story goes that Gilbert was to divorce his wife, Ruja to divorce her husband, and the two would be married. Seems Ruja didn’t buy Armenta was going to divorce his wife, so she had his apartment in Florida bugged. It was then she found out he was cooperating with the FBI and soon after she disappeared.

Now to Gilbert Armenta and his arrest, cooperation with the Feds and violating his plea agreement with the Feds: On September 12th, 2017, Armenta was indicted by a Grand Jury on three counts of extortion; conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion and travel act extortion. Armenta was arrested in Connecticut the following day on September 13th. At his hearing held in New York on September 18th, Armenta’s bail was set at $5 million dollars. Armenta was ordered to stay in Manhattan with a 6pm curfew and GPS monitoring. His passport and those belonging to his adult children were also surrendered.

Armenta’s initial plea to the criminal charges against him was not guilty. On January 24th 2018, the DOJ filed a superseding indictment adding additional criminal charges. Armenta now faced five counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud; conspiracy to commit money laundering (three counts); and conspiracy to commit extortion. As alleged by the DOJ: Gilbert Armenta assisted in the execution of the OneCoin scheme by: (a) coordinating the opening of OneCoin Ltd. depository bank accounts … at banks located in Mexico and South America; (b) establishing and administering OneCoin “pool accounts” at various international banks; (c) introducing one or more principals of the OneCoin scheme to an online reputation company for the purpose of removing from the internet negative information about OneCoin Ltd.; (d) transmitting OneCoin Ltd. fund to pay recruitment commissions to OneCoin members who recruited new OneCoin members, as well as to pay refunds to dissatisfied OneCoin members; and (e) transmitting OneCoin Scheme proceeds through bank accounts located in the United States and abroad, and making various misrepresentations to banks regarding the source of the funds, for the purpose of laundering the OneCoin scheme proceeds.

With respect to extortion, the DOJ alleged Armenta agreed with others to use threats of physical harm to attempt to collect payment through international wire transfer from an individual in the United Kingdom who they believed had stolen business proceeds originally intended for international wire transfer. The individual in question is not named.

The same day the superseding indictment was filed, Armenta pled guilty to all five counts. We know through testimony that Armenta opted to cooperate with the FBI following his arrest in September 2017. Nothing was filed in Armenta’s case from March 27th, 2018 until April 2020. It was assumed by all of us that he was cooperating with the authorities for a reduced sentence. On April 29th 2020, the DOJ requested Armenta’s case be unsealed. It is believed this signaled the end of his cooperation with US authorities.

On May 29th Armenta’s sentencing was scheduled for July 23rd. Citing COVID-19 and claiming he was suffering from “uncertainty and stress”, on July 7th Armenta requested his sentencing hearing be conducted via video conference. The uncertainty and stress that Mr. Armenta and his family have been living with has been agonizing. Mr. Armenta has been in home detention for over three months, following eight months in detention at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (the “MCC”). Further delaying his sentencing, possibly indefinitely depending on the pandemic’s progression, only exacerbates the anxiety and torment that Mr. Armenta is experiencing.

The DOJ responded in opposition to Armenta’s motion the same day. The DOJ revealed that with respect to violating his cooperation agreement, Armenta had used his companies to engage in additional criminal activity while subject to the terms of a cooperation agreement with the Government. In their argument against a video conference hearing (which increased the probability of the scheduled date being kept), the DOJ argued there are no specific reasons that sentencing in this case cannot be further delayed without serious harm to the interests of justice. The complexity of the case in support of an in-person hearing was also brought up. On July 8th the court denied Armenta’s video conference request. The Court said, “defendant provides no specific reasons to find that further delay would cause serious harm to the interest of justice,” therefore the application is denied.

The DOJ letter to the court revealed that in July 2019 Armenta was remanded back into custody. The DOJ alleges Armenta violated his cooperation agreement. In December 2019 the DOJ informed Armenta they would not be providing him with a Section 5K1.1 letter. A Section 5K1.1 letter states to the court that because the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense, the court may depart from (sentencing) guidelines. Because of his own actions Armenta’s cooperation with US authorities, as far as his own self-interests went, was for naught.

So what did Gilbert Armenta do that violated his cooperation agreement with the Feds? Because of the bail conditions imposed on Mr. Armenta when he was released from the MCC, he can “have no involvement in running or managing any business entity, or involvement in any financial transaction associated with any business entity.” Well, it seems that Gilbert in July 2019 founded “ESOL B.V LLC” company in Florida with his long-time partner Giselle Valentin. He owned a company in Netherlands with the same name (drimble.nl/bedrijf/amstelveen/32973667/esol-bv.html) that in late 2015 he used to acquire Georgian JSC Capital bank for Ruja. But due to the large extent OneCoin related criminality, it is likely this is why the bank lost its license and went bust.

So he started a new business which his co-operation agreement barred him from participating in or have any involvement with in violation of his agreement. Just like Mark Scott, these people don’t believe the law applies to them. Guess he liked being in jail and is looking forward to a long, long, long prison sentence.
And just think: He was one of the brilliant masterminds with the genius Ruja Ignatova running OneCoin, but it wasn’t a Ponzi (cough, cough). And people bought the lie they were all brilliant and geniuses running OC. Instead it was just your typical criminal mind at work.

Armenta is currently scheduled for in-person sentencing on October 21st, 2020.