GERMANY (WKRC) - When Ruja Ignatova disappeared from the face of the Earth in 2017, she was already on the FBI's radar for orchestrating one of the largest cryptocurrency scams of all time. Seven years later, she is still nowhere to be found and the price on her head is now five million dollars.
Who is Ruja Ignatova?
Ignatova was born in Bulgaria and raised in Germany before graduating from Oxford University in England. At 34 she launched OneCoin, a Ponzi scheme and Pyramid scheme disguised as a new cryptocurrency. Not only did the company make fraudulent investments, but the OneCoin cryptocurrency did not even exist. Unlike real cryptocurrencies, OneCoin was not registered on the blockchain, so the company could produce and circulate as much as it wanted.
The chasing...
The FBI quickly realized that something strange was going on at OneCoin, which meant that its ringleader was likely involved. The FBI contacted Ignatovaโs American boyfriend, who agreed to cooperate with the organization. When Ignatova found out, she boarded a Ryanair flight to Athens on October 25, 2017. That flight was the only confirmed sighting of Ruja Ignatova in seven years.
In 2018, documents related to the death of a Bulgarian police officer were discovered indicating a possible connection between Ignatova and the Bulgarian mafia. The documents suggested that Ignatova may have been murdered on a mafia boss's private yacht, but the source of the information was highly intoxicated and claimed that Ignatova's body had been dismembered and scattered throughout the Ionian Sea. However, authorities are still searching for Ignatova assuming she is alive.
Ignatova was added to the The FBI's Most Wanted List in 2022 with a cash reward of $100,000 "for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ruja Ignatova." Just two years later, that price is $5 million.
Authorities believe Ignatova took a large sum of cash with her when she disappeared, suggesting she may have had powerful friends hiding her. The increased reward is likely to encourage those who may be financially dependent on her.
The consequences...
Jamie Bartlett's "The Missing Cryptoqueen" follows the entire story of Ruja Ingatova, beginning with a wildly popular podcast That was then Bound and printedIngatova's story has intrigued the entire world, and everyone is wondering where the wealthy criminal is hiding (if she is even alive).
Furthermore, the spectacular OneCoin scam has created many more skeptics in the cryptocurrency industry and a desire for greater oversight of cryptocurrency companies.
