At the European Litigation Funding Conference in March of this year, it was notable that one of the first panels of the event focused on the potential growth of litigation targeting cryptocurrency companies that have allegedly defrauded customers. Whilst it is still uncertain how viable these claims can be, given the difficulties around the valuation of the underlying assets, the announcement of a new claim being brought in the UK suggests that the appetite for these lawsuits is still present.

In a press release, Mishcon de Reya LLP have announced that it will be bringing a claim in the High Court in London against those behind the OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme, which allegedly defrauded investors from around the globe. The opt-in claim will allege that OneCoin was not a legitimate cryptocurrency offering but instead “operated as a Ponzi scheme”, taking in over £4 billion in investment and resulting in the founder and their associates “pocketing vast sums of misappropriated investor funds.”

Rhymal Persad, partner at Mishcon de Reya, stated:

“The fraudulent OneCoin scheme concocted by Ruja Ignatova and others greatly impacted the lives of its victims who ranged from sophisticated to lay investors. The forthcoming claim in the High Court in London aims to achieve at least partial redress for those investors who were taken in by the deception and who suffered losses as a result”.

In the announcement, the law firm revealed that it had already secured financing from an unnamed third-party litigation funder. OneCoin investors who feels they are victims of the OneCoin scheme are encouraged to join the claim at: https://www.onecoinvictims.com/  

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