The attorney for alleged OneCoin money launderer Mark Scott has made an interesting claim in court: that Neil Bush, the brother of former president George W. Bush was paid $300,000 to meet with the scamâs missing âCryptoqueen,â Ruja Ignatova.
Scottâs attorney has told US court that Bush met Ignatova in regards to a $60 million loan to buy an African oil field using, in part, OneCoin cryptocurrency, Law360 reports.
The deal was to be funded by Hoifu Energy, a company run by Chinese businessman Dr. Hui Chi Ming, who was also said to be in attendance.
Hoifu Energy was to finance the âoil fieldâ deal with cash, as well as âvery large portion of the purchase priceâ in OneCoin.
Bushâs reported involvement supposedly gave Scott confidence that OneCoin was a legitimate operation, a notion his lawyer was eager to use in his defence.
FBI agents met with Bush over OneCoin deal
An FBI interview with Bush read aloud in court revealed Bush took the âoil fieldâ meeting in Hong Kong. Bush is said have stood to personally profit 10 percent of the sale price â but only if Hui was able to sell the undisclosed amount of OneCoin.
At this point, it should be noted that the OneCoin âcryptocurrencyâ is known to be entirely fake. There was never any blockchain, and authorities say OneCoinâs founders referred to the digital assets distributed to duped investors as âfake coins.â
Bushâs alleged involvement deal was enough for FBI agents investigating OneCoin to meet the former presidentâs brother. Scottâs counsel also reportedly claimed that Bush is a Hoifu Energy board member.
âBush recalled that the head of Hoifu Energy, Dr. Hui Chi Ming, received a bunch of cryptocurrency for an oil deal in Madagascar,â read the FBIâs report. âBush had a residual interest in the cryptocurrency from the oil deal. Bush met the woman from the cryptocurrency company, Ruja Ignatova, in Hong Kong with Dr. Hui.â
The deal reportedly fell apart.
Nobody denies this meeting took place
Law360 reports that Bushâs defense confirmed his client was at the meeting with Ignatova, and had âsome involvement with some of Dr. Huiâs companies,â but denied that Bush sat on Hoifu Energyâs board.
âAfter he attended one meeting, I think he asked a few more questions, and that was it,â said Bushâs lawyer.
The presiding judge eventually agreed that Bushâs testimony would not be relevant to Scottâs case, albeit after highlighting that nobody had disputed that there had been a transaction pending and a loan planned for an oil field.
Last week, it was revealed that Konstantin Ignatov, Ignatovaâs brother, had pleaded guilty to money laundering and fraud charges in relation to his role in the OneCoin scam, which is estimated to have defrauded at least $3 billion from investors worldwide.
You can read more about the alleged inner-workings of OneCoin here.
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