OneCoin lawyer Mark Scott disbarred in New York

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Mark Scott, the lawyer accused of laundering hundreds of millions for mega scam OneCoin, has been disbarred in New York State. Scott’s disbarment follows his conviction of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in November 2019.

Scott’s involvement in the $4 billion cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme OneCoin started in 2015 when he first met Ruja Ignatova. A few months later, he started setting up fake private equity investment funds in the British Virgin Islands known as Fenero Funds. He would use these funds to launder over $400 million for OneCoin, making over $50 million in profits.

His involvement in the scheme has now cost him his license to practice law in the state of New York. A five-judge panel recently revealed it had disbarred the 52-year-old who has been practicing law in New York since 1996. The panel stated that even though he is yet to be sentenced, they based the disbarment upon a guilty verdict.

In its November ruling, a New York court convicted Scott of two crimes—conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. It’s the latter that has cost him his license to practice law, the panel revealed.

The panel stated that Scott is “commanded to desist and refrain from the practice of law in any form in the State of New York, either as principal or as agent, clerk or employee of another; and respondent is hereby forbidden to appear as an attorney or counselor-at-law before any court, judge, justice, board, commission or other public authority, or to give to another an opinion as to the law or its application, or any advice in relation thereto.”

Scott has attempted to fight the disbarment on the grounds that he has a pending post-trial motion in which he is fighting for an acquittal or a fresh trial. The panel dismissed this argument, stating that “such circumstances to do not entitle him to a stay of disciplinary proceedings.”

The Supreme Court of Florida was the first to take disciplinary action against Scott, disbarring him in February 2020. Scott, a Florida resident, had been admitted as an attorney in his home state in 1998.

Follow CoinGeek’s Crypto Crime Cartel series, which delves into the stream of groups—from BitMEX to Binance, Bitcoin.com, Blockstream and Ethereum—who have co-opted the digital asset revolution and turned the industry into a minefield for naïve (and even experienced) players in the market.