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The Italian OneCoin criminal prosecution has been stalled because of the Steinkeller brothers.
An attorney for the Steinkellers objected to wiretapping during a hearing to break up Ruja Ignatova’s lawsuit.
In Tyrol, ten advocates for OneCoin, including Ruja Ignatova, Aron Steinkeller, his sons Christian and Stefan, and Steinkeller, are defending themselves against criminal charges.
By October of 2017, Ruja Ignatova was nowhere to be found. Ignatova has not made an appearance in court and is therefore being defended by the Public Defender’s Office.
The court decided to split Ignatova’s case off from the others so as not to delay the process. On October 5th, at a hearing regarding the subject, the Steinkeller’s attorney voiced an objection.
So says the Tageszeitung.
The defense attorney brought up the fact that OneCoin was wiretapped by the prosecution throughout the investigation phase and that this was permitted by Judge Schönsberg. There is a glaring inconsistency in deciding whether or not to admit the indictment.
The fact that the same judge who previously authorized surveillance by investigators is now presiding over the case raises obvious ethical concerns.
The Steinkellers have effectively bought themselves an additional six months of delay in the case.
The Tageszeitung expresses concern that the allegations against the Steinkellers may soon expire.
The Steinkellers and other promoters are being accused of fraudulent activity that occurred as far back as 2017.
The time period for bringing charges in Italy for operating a pyramid scheme had passed by the time they initiated action. General fraud allegations have been pursued by prosecutors despite a six-year statute of limitations.
Prosecutors in Italy claim that the Steinkellers and their underlings in the promotion industry stole over $10 million from Italian investors.
It’s certainly far greater than $2.5 million each month, given that OneCoin is a $4 billion Ponzi scheme and the Steinkellers, at their height, boasted of stealing $2.5 million per month through OneCoin.
At the hearing on Wednesday, the Steinkellers’ attorney focused on
The Steinkeller brothers have left the cryptocurrency industry and are now working in other parts of the global financial industry, specifically in foreign countries.
The lawyer sought to imply that the Steinkeller brothers have taken refuge in Dubai, where they will continue to defraud customers.
Many multi-level marketing scams are headquartered in Dubai. The emirate does not enforce any laws against securities fraud and provides a safe haven for offenders.
The Steinkellers may or may not be considered persons of interest by US authorities.
The Metfi is the latest multi-level-marketing cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme from Steinkeller.
MetFi, which was examined by us in July, promises a return on investment of 1,000% by purchasing bogus NFTs.
The Steinkeller family’s practice of wash trading maintains the value of the MFI shitcoin, to which MetFi is tied.
The MFI’s inflated $7463 market cap doesn’t hide the fact that the Ponzi scheme it’s tied to is failing.
Naturally, if a sizable withdrawal is made, MFI will plummet.
Overall, fewer people are joining the MetFI. The Steinkellers’ plan to plunder Martinique, a little island in the Caribbean with a population of about 376 thousand, looks to have failed. It appears that the pillaging in Thailand has ceased, as it had in Martinique.
Since September of 2022, France, Poland, and Singapore are on MetFi’s radar.
It remains to be seen if the Italian police will be able to successfully prosecute the Steinkeller brothers.
