Singapore authorities have charged two men for promoting cryptocurrency multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme OneCoin in the first case of its kind for the city state, local daily news outlet Business Times reported on April 10.
The two men, who were not named, reportedly engaged in activities involving incorporating a subsidiary to promote OneCoin, as well as signing up new members and taking investments in return for education courses and OneCoin tokens.
The case is the latest to afflict OneCoin, which had managed to operate for several years and accrue giant investments before its two Bulgarian founders were indicted by United States law enforcement in March.
“The promotional tokens could be used to ‘mine’ for OneCoins,” Business Times quotes a statement from the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force as reading. It continues:
“Participants who brought in new participants were also entitled to overriding commissions in contravention of the Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling (Prohibition) Act.”
Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), had previously inserted OneCoin on its Investor Alert List, a directory of entities that it believes to be misleading the public.
Various governments worldwide have issued warnings against OneCoin, advising consumers not to interact with any agent associated with the scheme.
One of the two founders, Ruja Ignatova, remains at large following the U.S. indictment.
