Ruja Ignatova, the woman who became known as the "Cryptoqueen" has been added to the FBI's top ten most wanted fugitives list as she is accused of defrauding millions of investors into sending her at least $4 billion to the cryptocurrency company she founded, OneCoin.
US authorities said Ignatova was the mastermind behind OneCoin, which they described as one of the largest pyramid schemes in history. While Ignatova claimed OneCoin relied on the blockchain, in fact it didn't even exist, Michael Driscoll of the FBI said, according to Bloomberg.
"Ignatova had an excellent CV, reportedly studying law at Oxford and working at McKinsey, but now she sits side by side on the top 10 list with cartel leaders, kidnappers and murderers," said prosecutor Damian Williams.
The US charges her with fraud and money laundering, while the FBI is offering a $100.000 reward for information leading to her arrest. Her story became the subject of the hit BBC podcast 'The Missing Cryptoqueen'.
According to US authorities, OneCoin had a turnover of 3,4 billion euros from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2016, but had no real value and could not be used for purchases. It operated as a multi-level marketing network that paid commissions to its more than 3 million members worldwide to convince others to buy OneCoin packages.
A German citizen living in Bulgaria, Ignatova founded OneCoin in 2014 and headed the organization. The pyramid operated all over the world, including the US, and at one point had at least three million investors.
Ignatova filled auditoriums when she gave speeches around the world urging investors to join the "financial revolution." It promised them that OneCoin would "transform the lives of the unbanked."
Suspecting the U.S. was watching her, Ignatova boarded a flight to Greece and then disappeared, Driscoll said, noting she has ties to Russia, Greece and is believed to have traveled to other Eastern European countries and the U.S. Arab Emirates.
Ignatova's brother, Konstantin Ignatov, was arrested in March 2019 in Los Angeles. He later pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering and testified against Mark S. Scott, a lawyer who was found guilty of helping to "launder" nearly $400 million from OneCoin.
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