Tag: Christopher Hamilton

Ruja Ignatova, infamously known as the "Missing Cryptoqueen" and wanted by the FBI for masterminding the $4.5 billion OneCoin crypto fraud scheme, has now been subjected to a global asset freeze. This unprecedented legal action, initiated on behalf of defrauded investors, aims to prevent the movement or sale of her assets in a bid to secure compensation for those impacted by the massive scam, BBC reports.

The FCA-regulated e-Money Institution Viola Money (Europe) Ltd of Christopher Hamilton was part of the money laundering network around the crypto Ponzi scheme OneCoin of Crypto Queen Ruja Ignatova and her partner Gilbert Armenta. In December 2021, the UK FCA secured a Court decision to place the company into special administration. One of the company directors was the Austrian lawyer Juergen Brandstaetter, who is also a director in the Austrian entity of the Viola scheme.

The alleged UK OneCoin money launderer Christopher Hamilton will be extradited from the UK to the US. District Judge Nicolas Rimmer rejected Hamilton’s request to hold off extradition to the U.S., where he is accused along with Robert McDonald of laundering $105 million for the $4 billion OneCoin crypto fraud scheme operated by the fugitive Bulgarian CryptoQueen Ruja Ignatova. Judge Rimmer noted that UK Police terminated their OneCoin investigation, and “there appears to be no indication, still less certainty, of a prosecution here in the U.K.”

On 21 December 2021, following an FCA application, a UK Court made a special administration order to the FCA-regulated e-Money Institution (EMI) Viola Money (Europe) Limited, established by Christopher Hamilton via the Maltese Viola Group Holdings Limited. Law enforcement investigators see Hamilton as one of the key people in the OneCoin crypto fraud scheme, who allegedly laundered more than $100 million for crypto queen Ruja Ignatova. The U.S. has requested his extradition.