The FBI announced on Thursday that Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova has been included on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Ignatova is accused of setting up a fake cryptocurrency company in Bulgaria and scamming investors out of roughly $4 billion.
Who is Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova?
Ignatova created OneCoin, a cryptocurrency that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme. Since 2014, her OneCoin Ltd. has scammed more than 3 million investors out of more than $4 billion, according to law enforcement. Her company has also been accused of bribing Serbian and Bulgarian presidents.
According to the FBI, Ignatova is 42 years old and has “brown eyes and dark brown to black hair,” though it’s likely that she may have altered her look. She might be accompanied by armed guards, the FBI said.
She is fluent in Bulgarian, English, and German. With connections to Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, Greece, and the United Arab Emirates, she might be using a fake passport to travel. Ignatova lived a luxurious lifestyle before she vanished.
High-Profile Fugitive
The FBI has stated that it will pay up to $100,000 for information that leads to her arrest. Ignatova was last seen in Athens, according to the FBI. That happened in 2017.
Ignatova was recently listed as one of Europol’s most wanted persons, although she is no longer on that list.
Investigators believe Ignatova was made aware that she was being investigated by U.S. authorities. She was arrested on Oct. 12, 2017, and traveled from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, on Oct. 25, but she has not been seen since.
Months later, a superseding indictment charged her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and securities fraud.
OneCoin is the subject of a class-action lawsuit, and her brother and accomplices are on trial.