key takeaways
- The FBI is adding OneCoin co-founder Ruza “Cryptoquin” Ignatova to its ten most wanted list.
- Prosecutors believe OneCoin defrauded investors of more than $4 billion.
- Ignatova disappeared in 2017; His whereabouts are still unknown.
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Ruja Ignatova has been included in the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list for allegedly extorting $4 billion from investors through OneCoin.
Wanted for $4 Billion Scam
The search for cryptocurrency is accelerating.
Today the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) couple Ruja Ignatova, known as the “crypto queen” in the crypto space, is included in her ten most wanted list for “allegedly” [defrauding] billions of investors. The charges against Ignatova include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 to anyone providing information leading to Ignatova’s arrest. It warns that she will be traveling with armed bodyguards and allies.
Ignatova is the co-founder of OneCoin, a Bulgarian cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme believed by prosecutors to have defrauded its victims of more than $4 billion. OneCoin will sell educational trading packages of up to six digits to investors; These packages include tokens that can be used to mine OneCoins. OneCoin can only be exchanged for other currencies on the OneCoin exchange, which closed in January 2017 without notice.
Ignatova was the leader of the organization from 2014 to October 2017, at which time she was replaced by her brother Konstantin Ignatov. Ignatov and another OneCoin cofounder, Sebastian Greenwood, were arrested in 2019 and 2018 respectively; Ignatov, who pleaded guilty to similar charges against Ignatova, faced up to 90 years in prison.
Bulgarian national Ignatova went missing in October 2017 in Athens, Greece. The FBI believes she may be traveling on a German passport. She was the subject of a BBC podcast series titled the missing cryptocurrency, He was also recently included in Europol’s most wanted list.
Money laundering and wire fraud have been frequent issues in the crypto space. Major crypto exchange Binance was recently Guilty Allowing European crime syndicates, Russian drug dealers and North Korean hackers to process their funds through the platform.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this article owns ETH and several other cryptocurrencies.