A prosecutor told a jury that a lawyer on trial for laundering $400 million in a massive cryptocurrency scam was motivated by a goal he once stated in a text message: “50 by 50,” or $50 million by age 50, Bloomberg News reported. Mark Scott set up a phony investment fund that he used to process money from Ruja Ignatova, the Bulgarian woman behind OneCoin Ltd., a Ponzi scheme based on a fraudulent blockchain-based digital currency system, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Folly said in his closing argument yesterday in Manhattan federal court. Folly claimed that Scott was paid $50 million “just for laundering Ruja’s money.” Prosecutors claim that Scott, a former Locke Lord LLP partner, used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, buying a 57-foot yacht, multimillion-dollar homes in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and luxury watches and cars, including three Porsches. Scott’s lawyer said that Scott believed he was operating a legitimate investment fund with money from Ignatova, who is to blame for the fraud. Prosecutors claim that Scott used a network of shell companies, offshore bank accounts and fraudulent documents to hide the origin of $400 million of illegal OneCoin proceeds. Scott is charged with money-laundering conspiracy and bank-fraud conspiracy.
