“Queen of Cryptocurrencies” on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. She extorted $ 4 billion. and disappeared without a trace

Ruja Ignatova is a Bulgarian born in 1980 (later also a German woman) who is known in the world as the “crypto queen” or “queen of cryptocurrencies”. According to law enforcement, she was the leader of a criminal group that defrauded millions of people into billions of dollars in 2014-2017.

They invested in a cryptocurrency that was supposed to make a fortune

The fraud in 2014 was to set up the OneCoin cryptocurrency. With the help of its company, OneCoin Ltd (based in Bulgaria) promoted OneCoin as a more profitable response to, inter alia, Bitcoin. In return for joining the “financial revolution” – as she touted her cyber money – she promised substantial profits and “free herself from banking.”

During webinars, Ignatova encouraged other people to invest and encouraged investors to attract family and friends. Investors were to receive commissions in return for persuading more people to make transactions. This fact and efficient advertising of cyber money made the group of investors grow and grow.

And this despite the doubts that sometimes appear in the press whether the alleged OneCoin cryptocurrency has any value at all. In fact, she didn’t actually have one. OneCoin did not even exist, as stated by Michael Driscoll, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York. Ignatova, on the other hand, claimed to be a normal cryptocurrency, a “private blockchain” (ie not decentralized like other cryptocurrencies).

At the end of its activity, the group of investors was to number over 3 million people. Thus, the OneCoin scandal is considered to be one of the largest financial pyramids in history. One of the victims of OneCoin admitted that she and her family and friends invested as much as 250,000 in cryptocurrency. euro. She lost her money.

Ruja Ignatova on the FBI’s Most Wanted List

Ruja Ignatova disappeared without a trace in 2017, along with $ 500 million, when she flew from Sofia to Athens. She might have suspected beforehand that she was being watched by American authorities. Earlier that year, overseas investigators signed a secret arrest warrant for Ignatova, but they never found her. By 2019, however, it was possible to detain most of the fraud’s key associates, including her brother.

Now the FBI has announced that it is adding Ignatova to the list of the ten most wanted fugitives (the entire list can be viewed). What’s more, there was also a prize of 100,000. dollars for providing information that will lead to the arrest of the “queen of cryptocurrencies”. In May, Europol placed her on a similar list and appointed a prize of 5,000 for information about her. euro.

In a published on Thursday that a New York District Court had already issued a warrant for her arrest in October 2017, and Ignatova was charged with a number of charges, including fraud, money laundering conspiracy or securities fraud. According to estimates provided by the FBI, Ignatova and her associates on the OneCoin fraud stole a total of about $ 4 billion.

The FBI notes that after landing in Athens, Ignatova could have traveled with a German passport to the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Germany, Russia or other parts of Greece or Eastern Europe. Since the last time she was seen (almost 5 years ago), Ignatova has also been able to change her appearance and assume a new identity.