Ruja Ignatova, known as the ‘Crypto Queen’ has just joined the list of the 10 most wanted people of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The agency is offering up to $100,000 as a reward in exchange for information on the whereabouts of the founder of OneCoin, an alleged $4 billion cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme. This is her story.
Born in Bulgaria and a German national, Ignatova created OneCoin in 2014. For the next three years, she traveled the world attending conferences promoting OneCoin as the “bitcoin killer.” However, what the company was really selling was a fake cryptocurrency, a whole scheme set up to defraud investors of money, to whom she offered commissions in order to attract more people.
In 2017, the US issued a federal arrest warrant for the “crypto queen” and her partner, Mark Scott, a former corporate lawyer. Scott was found guilty of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. As for Ignatova, she is charged with 8 crimes, including wire and securities fraud.
The “cryptoqueen” is currently unaccounted for. The FBI lost track of him in Athens, where the agency believes he traveled in October 2017. He could have taken refuge in the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany and Eastern Europe, although it has no confirming information. What he does know is that she took a large sum of cash with her, according to The Guardian.
Ruja Ignatova is also part of the Europol agency’s list of most wanted people in Europe.
In that case, crime is in the genes. The brother of the “crypto queen”, Konstantin was arrested in March 2019 after taking over OneCoin in his absence. Later that same year, Kostantin pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and fraud, among others.
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