Jen McAdam

OneCoin was founded in 2014. It presented itself as a cryptocurrency, akin to BitCoin, which was “mined” by computers, held on a blockchain, and traded on an exchange. OneChain was aggressively marketed online and offline. However, according to the US Department of Justice, “OneCoin was a Fraudulent Cryptocurrency” and “lacked a true blockchain, that is, a public and verifiable blockchain.” Those behind it “started allocating to OneCoin members coins that did not even exist in OneCoin’s purported private blockchain, referring to those coins as ‘fake coins’.”

After investing her father’s inheritance in OneCoin, according to TBIJ, Jen McAdam “brought her friends and family into the fold, who in turn brought their loved ones in. McAdam became popular with OneCoin leaders, who celebrated her as a success story at conferences. McAdam estimates that her extended network put about £250,000 into the scheme.” However, in 2016, she was approached by an expert in cryptocurrency who provided extensive documentation about OneCoin and its founder Ruja Ignatova, documenting the fraudulent nature of the company. In early 2017, she reached out to the City of London Police and was informed that they were investigating OneCoin in the UK. During this conversation, the police advised her to refrain from any further investments in OneCoin and to counsel others similarly. However, in 2019, the City of London Police dropped its investigation, telling the BBC that “[t]here was insufficient evidence to support criminal proceedings against individuals based in the UK, though the force has never specified that there had been no concerns surrounding OneCoin.” 

Committed to raising awareness of the fraud and protecting other investors, she started to coordinate online victim support networks through WhatsApp and other platforms.

Later in 2017, she participated in a webinar for other victims and cryptocurrency experts to explore ways to hold the company to account and to warn others against OneCoin. Three weeks after the webinar, McAdam received a legal threat from OneCoin and Ruja Ignatova via the law firm, Carter Ruck, alleging defamation. It has been reported that Carter Ruck had started acting for Ignatova and OneCoin in 2016. According to the letter, the law firm had been instructed to “initiate proceedings against you for defamation.” The only way to avoid a court case, the letter said, was to refrain from publishing similar allegations and to retract the webinar video (which had actually been uploaded by someone else). She had seven days to act. McAdam did not post the video so could not directly retract the video. 

Jen has continued her advocacy and support and the webinar video remains accessible. There has been no follow-up to the legal threat.

While this legal action was threatened in 2017, regulatory action against OneCoin was already underway in a number of countries. According to Tax Policy Associates: “In December 2016, the Italian Anti-Trust Authority suspended all promotion of OneCoin on the basis that it was a Ponzi/pyramid scheme, the Hungarian Central Bank warned that OneCoin was similar to a pyramid scheme, and the Austrian Financial Markets Authority issued a specific warning about OneCoin.” At the beginning of 2017, OneCoin suspended clients’ ability to withdraw their money, but continued to accept new funds. 

McAdam was not the only person OneCoin threatened with legal action. Coin Telegraph is a website publishing news on the cryptocurrency industry, with over 1.9 million followers on X (Twitter). In May 2015 it published an article: “One Coin, Much Scam: OneCoin Exposed as Global MLM Ponzi Scheme“. In 2016, Carter Ruck, acting for the cryptocurrency sent a legal letter alleging defamation, malicious falsehood and breaching data protection. 

Following a complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) from Dan Neidle, on 6 August 2025, the SRA referred Claire Gill, a lawyer at Carter Ruck, to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal based on allegations that she “sent or arranged to be sent correspondence which contained an improper threat of litigation.” In September 2025, it was reported that “Ms Gill sought an order anonymising references to her former clients and imposing reporting restrictions, on the basis that their communications with her attracted LPP [legal professional privilege]”. However, according to Tax Policy Associates, “[t]he Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal just ruled that Carter-Ruck was instructed to further a fraud and, as a result, the hearings will be open and all filings will be published.”