On March 21, 2025, the UK Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) recommended prosecuting Claire Frances Gill, a partner at Carter-Ruck, for sending an allegedly improper threat of litigation on April 26, 2017, tied to her representation of OneCoin and its founder Ruja Ignatova, per VoiceOfCrypto. The decision, made public on August 6, 2025, despite Carter-Ruck’s efforts to suppress it, per @DanNeidle, will be heard by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), an independent body, per The Guardian. The allegations remain unproven pending a full hearing, per SRA.
blockchain, per The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ). Gill, representing OneCoin since September 2016, sent a letter to Jen McAdam, a victim who lost £9,000 and became an advocate against the scam, per VoiceOfCrypto. The letter, dated April 26, 2017, threatened defamation proceedings after McAdam’s April 5 webinar with Bjorn Bjercke, who claimed OneCoin lied about its blockchain, per TBIJ. The letter demanded McAdam retract the webinar video (uploaded by a third party) and cease similar allegations, causing her significant distress, per TBIJ.
The SRA alleges Gill’s 2017 letter constituted an “improper threat of litigation,” part of a broader pattern of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), where legal actions aim to silence critics, per Law360 UK. Dan Neidle of Tax Policy Associates, who reported Gill to the SRA after TBIJ’s 2023 exposé, argued Carter-Ruck recklessly enabled OneCoin’s fraud by ignoring red flags and misleading recipients with false “confidential” labels, per taxpolicy.org.uk. The SRA’s 2023 guidance bans such misleading tactics, per Tax Policy Associates.
