Local authorities in Guernsey seized about $11.4 million in assets linked to the OneCoin fraud after the Royal Court enforced an overseas forfeiture order sought by German authorities, according to a report released Monday. The action used Guernsey’s updated proceeds of crime framework to authorize the confiscation.
Officials said the funds sat in an account at RBS International under the name Aquitaine Group Limited. Authorities did not say whether additional assets remain under review.
The Royal Court upheld the overseas order under laws revised in 2024, as explained in local legal texts (proceeds of crime laws). Prosecutors did not announce new criminal charges.
The seizure ties into years of cross-border investigations into OneCoin and its founder, Ruja Ignatova, who vanished in 2017 as prosecutors closed in. Earlier international coverage noted a global asset freeze and wide-reaching probes (see previous reporting), and Ignatova remains on the FBI’s most-wanted list (FBI list).
Security experts warned that on-chain detection tools were not widely available when the scheme grew. “OneCoin’s fraud predates modern on-chain detection capabilities,” an industry source said.
(Ed. note: This recovery equals roughly 0.2% of estimated OneCoin losses.) Authorities and analysts said recovering larger sums is hard when suspects control private keys or use privacy tools.
