Forsage Co-founder Extradited from Thailand, Pleads Not Guilty in $340M Ponzi Case on May 11

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon, Olena Oblamska, a 42-year-old Ukrainian national also known as “Lola Ferrari,” was extradited from Thailand and arraigned on May 11 in Portland federal court on a conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge related to the Forsage cryptocurrency scheme. She pleaded not guilty and became the first of four co-defendants charged in the $340 million Ponzi scheme to face U.S. prosecution.

Oblamska was detained pending a jury trial scheduled to begin July 14. She was taken into custody in February when Thai authorities raided a condominium in Phuket and seized phones, computers and documents. According to blockchain analytics cited by the Justice Department, over 80% of Ethereum investors in Forsage received less ETH back than deposited, with more than half receiving nothing. Prosecutors allege the scheme operated by automatically routing investor funds to earlier participants via smart contracts on Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain and Tron.