Department Of Justice Looks To Push-Back The OneCoin Crypto Scam Trial Date To September 2019

The DOJ Is Looking To Push-Back The OneCoin Trial Date To September 2019

As per a news story released by a trusted media outlet a couple of days back, the court case against OneCoin insider ‘Mark Scott’ is now all set to go to trial by the latter half of 2019. With that being said, there is still a lot of uncertainty as to when exactly the trial will commence.

In regards to the matter, spokesperson for the DOJ (Department of Justice) stated that they are looking to hold the trial sometime around September 2019. However, Scott’s attorneys are reportedly asking the judiciary to push the date of the hearing to the first week of July.

On the issue, a local court had previously advised both parties to get together and sort this issue out amongst themselves.

The Nitty Gritty Of The Matter

According to letter a filed by the DOJ a couple of days back, it appears as though the trial will most likely commence sometime during September (later this year). On the matter, the DOJ argued that owing to the “voluminous amount of digital data” that needs to be sieved through, it is only fair that the trial be postponed to a time when all of the information (which is estimated to be around 7 terabytes in total) can be gone through in a thorough fashion.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that Scott's legal team and the DOJ are already in midst of a number of disagreements— primarily in regards to the “clients and attorneys list” which Scott says he does not want to share with the prosecution team. In the DOJ’s opinion, the information is ‘non-privileged’ and thus needs to be handed in by Scott immediately.

It is quite obvious that the clientele list will most probably contain the names of many OneCoin associates, however, it is worth remembering that if the DOJ does indeed fail to procure this information, it will not be able to file for certain ‘pre-trial motions’ that could have otherwise proven to be quite crucial.

“Specifically, the Government intends to submit a crime-fraud motion regarding certain communications between the defendant and his co-conspirators. However, the Government will be unable to file that motion until the prosecution team gains access to non-privileged materials, a privilege log of materials withheld, and the client list.”

More About The Case

In relation to the commencement of above-mentioned trial, the DOJ recently raised another argument against the July date put forth by Scott’s team— arguing that they would not have adequate time to coordinate and bring together all of the international witnesses that are vital for the case.

As things stand, the government is expecting a slew of intl. witnesses to come forward and testify against OneCoin. It is being said that a substantial number of individuals hailing from Britain, Ireland, and the Cayman Islands are expected to show up for the trial.

“ The Government expects the evidence at trial to show that Scott set up a series of hedge funds registered abroad with accounts at banks located in the Cayman Islands in order to launder OneCoin proceeds. Furthermore, Scott transferred a significant portion of the funds to related accounts at banks in the Republic of Ireland. The appearance of these witnesses for testimony at trial will require coordination with the Central Authorities of the countries in which these witnesses are located and the foreign entities for which they work.”

Final Take

Last but not least, it is worth remembering that at the time of writing this article, the US government has already charged and arrested — Konstantin Ignatov— one of the main individuals associated with the OneCoin scam. It now remains to be seen how Scott’s future plays out from here on end.