GERMANY (WKRC) – When Ruja Ignatova fell off the face of the Earth in 2017, she was already on the FBI’s radar for orchestrating one of many largest cryptocurrency scams of all time. Seven years later, she’s nonetheless nowhere to be discovered and the worth on her head is now $5 million.
Who’s Ruja Ignatova?
Ignatova was born in Bulgaria and raised in Germany earlier than graduating from Oxford College in England. At 34 years previous she launched OneCoin, a Ponzi and pyramid scheme disguised as a brand new cryptocurrency. Not solely did the corporate take fraudulent investments, however the OneCoin cryptocurrency by no means even existed. Not like actual cryptocurrency, OneCoin wasn’t registered to the blockchain, so the corporate may produce and flow into as a lot as they need.
The chase…
The FBI rapidly realized there was one thing unusual happening at OneCoin, which meant its ringleader was seemingly concerned. The FBI contacted Ignatova’s American boyfriend, who agreed to cooperate with the group. When Ignatova discovered, she boarded a Ryanair flight to Athens on October 25, 2017. That flight was the one confirmed sighting of Ruja Ignatova in seven years.
In 2018, paperwork had been uncovered relating to the loss of life of a Bulgarian police officer that indicated a doable connection between Ignatova and the Bulgarian mafia. The paperwork steered Ignatova could have been killed on a mafia boss’ personal yacht, however the supply of the knowledge was closely intoxicated and claimed that Ignatova’s physique had been dismembered and scattered all through the Ionian Sea. Nonetheless, authorities are nonetheless trying to find Ignatova with the belief that she is alive.
Ignatova was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted List in 2022 with a money reward of $100,000 “for info main to the arrest and/or conviction of Ruja Ignatova.” Solely two years later, that value is $5 million.
Authorities imagine Ignatova made off with a big sum of money when she vanished, suggesting she may have some highly effective associates hiding her. This bounty improve is probably going to encourage those that could also be financially reliant on her.
The fallout…
“The Lacking Cryptoqueen” by Jamie Bartlett follows your entire story of Ruja Ingatova, beginning with a wildly popular podcast that was then bound and printed. Ingatova’s story has intrigued your entire world, with everybody questioning the place the rich legal could also be hiding (if she’s even alive).
Moreover, OneCoin’s spectacular rip-off has created much more skeptics within the cryptocurrency trade, and the will for extra oversight into crypto corporations.