Singapore Man Fined $72K for Promoting Crypto Ponzi OneCoin
Police said the man is the first to be charged under the Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling (Prohibition) Act.
Jul 3, 2020 at 8:23 a.m. UTCUpdated Aug 19, 2021 at 2:54 a.m. UTC
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A 52-year-old Singapore man has been found guilty of promoting OneCoin, the multi-level marketing, or Ponzi, scheme based on its own cryptocurrency.
- On Wednesday, Fok Fook Seng was convicted and fined S$100,000 (almost US$72,000) for marketing OneCoin between January 2016 and June 2017, as reported by The Straits Times on Friday.
- The Singapore Police Force said the man is the first to be charged under the Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling (Prohibition) Act, 2000.
- Fok used the Facebook page "OneLife One World Team Singapore" to advertise OneCoin and promote it at major events.
- Victims – around 1,180 people from Singapore and elsewhere – would be sold educational packages that came with tokens said to be usable for "mining" the OneCoin cryptocurrency, per the report.
- OneCoin has been deemed fraudulent in the U.S. with "top leaders" Ruja Ignatova and Konstantin Ignatov indicted on charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering in May of last year.
- New Zealand has also issued warnings against fraudulent crypto scams involving OneCoin.
- A jury convicted OneCoin's Lawyer Mark Scott on fraud charges in November 2019 after it was revealed he laundered $400 million for the scheme beginning in 2016.
- Those convicted under Singapore's law face fines of up to $200,000 Singapore dollars ($143,340) and/or five years in prison.
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