Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova In FBI Wanted List After $4-B Scam

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova is now included in its list of most fugitives after she and her partner founded OneCoin, a Bulgarian-based company that was marketed as a new virtual currency but ended up as a global scam that bilked subscribers of $4-billion since 2014.

Photo Insert: Ignatova targeted people who may not have fully understood the ins and outs of cryptocurrencies but were moved by her impressive resume, OneCoin's marketing strategies, and the excitement surrounding cryptocurrencies.

In a podcast on Aug. 26, 2022, Monica Grover of the FBI said Ignatova targeted people who may not have fully understood the ins and outs of cryptocurrencies but were moved by her impressive resume, OneCoin's marketing strategies, and the excitement surrounding cryptocurrencies.

“As part of that, OneCoin is said to have used many of the terms associated with virtual currencies but not the actual practices. For example, investigators believe that OneCoins weren’t mined the way cryptocurrencies usually are, which is through computer resources.

And, OneCoin claimed to have a private, centralized blockchain. So standard cryptocurrencies have a public, decentralized blockchain, which means its users can see all the transactions across the currency and that supply and demand determine the market value,” Grover said.

But OneCoin’s alleged private blockchain let only OneCoin—and not the investors—see any of the transactions. Basically, the company served as the only regulator of the currency.

And the value of the cryptocurrency was determined by the company rather than market demand. Ignavota and her partner also created a multi-level marketing strategy to encourage investors to sell OneCoin packages to their friends and family, who were then encouraged to do the same with others.

On October 12, 2017, Ignatova was charged in connection with the OneCoin fraud scheme, and a federal warrant was issued for her arrest. Investigators believe she may have been tipped off that she was under investigation. She traveled from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, on October 25, 2017, and has not been seen since.

Ignatova is only the 11th woman on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, which was created in 1950. She’s currently 42 years old and has brown eyes and dark brown to black hair. However, investigators believe she could have changed her physical appearance. Ignatova speaks English, German, and Bulgarian.

She may be traveling on a fraudulent passport and has known connections to Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, Greece, and the United Arab Emirates. She’s known to have lived a lavish lifestyle.

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