The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York has officially charged OneCoin project’s “leaders” Ruja Ignatova and Konstantin Ignatov for cyber crimes, causing billions of dollars stolen from investors of an alleged pyramid scheme.

According to the press release of SDNY, the prosecutor maintains that OneCoin is an illicit business model where members are commissioned for recruiting new individuals, who then have to purchase its crypto packages and recruit more members.

Konstantin Ignatov committed wire fraud, while both violated securities fraud and money manipulation via a forged cryptocurrency, claimed the SDNY. After investigation, Konstantin Ignatov was apprehended at the Los Angeles International Airport earlier this week, but Ruja Ignatova is still at large.

Founder of OneCoin, Ruja Ignatova, however, is to face charges in India for her role in the digital currency investment scheme soon after her arrest.

Geoffrey Berman, an Attorney of the SDNY, stressed that “these defendants created a multibillion-dollar ‘cryptocurrency’ company based completely on lies and deceit.” However, little has been confirmed of these charges as they remain allegations for the time being.

Numerous countries across the globe have warn against and attempted to crack down the OneCoin project ever since 2016, as many defendants arrested and fraudulent projects shut down by the nation’s finance watchdogs.