People no longer carry cash in the 21st Century. In the digital world, the usage of cash has reduced a lot, while the trend of using crypto-currency has increased. There is curiosity in the world about crypto-currencies. At the same time, frauds associated with crypto-currency have become rampant across the globe!

As far as scams related to crypto-currency are concerned, Ruja Ignatova is the most infamous personality. Ignatova, the 44-year-old German citizen born in Bulgaria, was added to the FBI‘s (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Most-Wanted List in 2022 due to her involvement in laundering USD 4-5 million and forgery! The US intelligence officials have no idea as to where the lady is. Hence, a Red Corner Notice has been issued to find the Fugitive Crypto Queen.

Ignatova launched a rip-off of Bitcoin, named BigCoin, with her friend Sebastian Karl Greenwood. Later in 2014, they launched another fake crypto-currency, named OneCoin, in Sofia and raised billions of US Dollars. Ignatova and Greenwood used to encourage global investors to invest through crypto-currencies. At that time, the concept of crypto-currency was not clear to many. Crypto-currency is a fully digital medium of financial transactions. Hence, it is also called virtual currency. Although this currency does not exist in reality, transactions are done digitally through crypto-currency. In fact, transactions can be made in a very short time through crypto-currency.

Interestingly, no one knows how secure the usage of crypto-currency is! This particular issue became a serious one after Ignatova’s crypto-currency fraud came to light. Within a short span of time, OneCoin became the main competitor of Bitcoin. The scenario changed in October 2017 when Ignatova suddenly disappeared! Investors rightly realised that the German lady had misappropriated their money. The FBI has claimed that Ignatova was involved in defrauding more than USD 4 billion through her company, OneCoin. At its peak, OneCoin claimed to have garnered investments from as many as three million individuals worldwide, including the US, and cheated them out of USD 4 billion (GBP 3.3 billion)! The US Government has termed OneCoin as one of the “biggest fraud schemes” in global history!

Ignatova was last seen at an airport in Bulgaria. Her disappearance prompted the FBI to issue an arrest warrant against the Crypto Queen. There are 11 women, including Ignatova, on the FBI’s Most Wanted List of 529 people. She is also one of the first 10 Most Wanted people.

Ignatova belongs to a well-established family, as her father is an engineer and mother is a teacher. She studied European Law at the University of Oxford before starting her career as a consultant for a Sofia-based company. According to sources close to the FBI, she boarded an Athens-bound Ryanair flight from Sofia on October 25, 2017. Where she travelled from Greece is still not known! Also, there were rumours that the Godfather of the Bulgarian mafia ordered her elimination.

On June 26, 2024, the Chief Prosecutor of Bulgaria declared that Ignatova would face an indictment for her involvement in the crypto-currency ponzi scheme that defrauded investors worldwide of an estimated USD 4 billion between 2014 and its early collapse in 2017. He stressed: “She will also be charged in absentia in our country, which will allow the start of a procedure for the confiscation of her illegally acquired property.” It may be noted that Karl Greenwood, a co-founder of OneCoin, was awarded a 20-year prison term and USD 300 million in confiscation in 2023 for his misdeeds.

According to FBI officials, Ignatova may have travelled to different parts of the world using a German passport. They believe that she might have travelled to the UAE, Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, Greece and some other countries with the help of plastic surgery. The FBI mentioned in a statement: “Ignatova is believed to travel with armed guards and/or associates. She may have had plastic surgery or otherwise altered her appearance.” However, the US intelligence officials have no clear idea about her movements.

The US Department of State is offering a reward of up to USD 5,000,000 for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction in any country of Ignatova, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and securities fraud.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das