US judge threatens to throw out $4B class-action suit against OneCoin after its lead plaintiff failed to meet multiple deadlines.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni has scheduled an April 16 hearing for the representation of the plaintiffs’ in a class action suit against the $4 billion crypto Ponzi scheme, OneCoin, to justify why the case should continue.
The date was set on April 10 after the plaintiffs missed multiple deadlines to file consecutive monthly status reports.
Lead plaintiff missed two consecutive reporting deadlines
Law firms Levi & Korinsky LLP and Silver Miller will have to justify why a $4 billion class-action suit against OneCoin should continue after its lead plaintiff, Donald Berdeaux, again failed to meet the court’s deadline for the submission of monthly reports.
“Lead plaintiff is sternly warned that failing to comply with the court’s orders going forward could result in sanctions,” Judge Caproni wrote in response to the lead plaintiff missing reporting deadlines for both March and April.
“It is hereby ordered that Lead Plaintiff must show cause no later than April 16, 2020, why this case should not be dismissed with failure to prosecute,” the Judge asserted.
Berdeaux originally filed the complaint against OneCoin in May 2019.
Plaintiffs’ representation must justify continued proceedings
Amid difficulties in serving the case’s defendants, the court decided in August 2019 to continue the case on the provision that monthly letter updates regarding attempts to serve be provided by Berdeaux.
After growing to comprise one of the widest-reaching scams in the history of cryptocurrency, OneCoin’s operator ‘Cryptoqueen’, Ruja Ignatova, fled her home in Bulgaria.
In December, the judge allowed OneCoin to be served at its Dubai office and Ignatova via her last-known email address.
In February, the lead plaintiff’s representation informed the court that OneCoin and Ignatova had been served, and that two other defendants would be dropped from the case. No correspondence has been made with the court since.
Sentencing of Ignatova’s brother postponed until July
On April 7, the court postponed the sentencing of Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov, until July 8, 2020.
Since his arrest at the Los Angeles International Airport in March 2019, Ignatov has cooperated with law enforcement — pleading guilty during October 2019.
Ignatov will face up to 90 years in prison.
