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Ruja Ignatova

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In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Plamenova and the family name is Ignatova.

Ruja Ignatova
FBI picture
FBI picture
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive
Reward$5,000,000
Description
BornRuzha Plamenova Ignatova
(1980-05-30) May 30, 1980 (age 44)
Ruse, Bulgaria
Nationality
  • Bulgarian (formerly)[1]
  • German
Status
PenaltyUp to 90 years for the Ponzi scheme. 16 months' suspended imprisonment for a previous case.
AddedJune 30, 2022
Number527
Currently a Top Ten Fugitive

Ruja Plamenova Ignatova (Bulgarian: Ружа Пламенова Игнатова, romanized: Ruža Plamenova Ignatova, occasionally transliterated as "Ruga Ignatova"; born May 30, 1980 – disappeared October 25, 2017)[2] is a Bulgarian-born German entrepreneur best known as the founder of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme known as OneCoin, which The Times described as "one of the biggest scams in history."[3][4][5] She was the subject of the 2019 BBC podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen and the 2022 book of the same name.[6][7] Ignatova boarded a flight to Athens on October 25, 2017, and has not been seen since.

Since her disappearance, Ignatova has long been presumed to be on the run from various international law enforcement agencies. The FBI has offered up to five million dollars for any information leading to her arrest. In early 2019, she was charged in absentia by U.S. authorities for wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. She was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted in June 2022.[3][8] Ignatova is the subject of an Interpol warrant issued by German authorities.[9]

Reporting in 2023 and 2024 suggested that Ignatova may have been murdered in 2018 on the orders of Bulgarian organised crime figure "Taki" Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, who is suspected of initially sheltering her.[10][11]

Early life and education

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Ignatova was born in Ruse, Bulgaria in 1980[12] to a Romani family.[13] Ignatova emigrated to Germany with her family when she was ten years old, and spent part of her childhood in Schramberg in the state of Baden-Württemberg.[3][14] In 2005, she earned a PhD in private international law from the University of Konstanz in Germany with the dissertation Art. 5 Nr. 1 EuGVO – Chancen und Perspektiven der Reform des Gerichtsstands am Erfüllungsort, which discusses lex causae in conflict of laws.[15] She reportedly also worked for McKinsey & Company.[16]

Criminal activities

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The 44-metre (144 ft 4 in) motor yacht 'Davina' (ex. Lambda Mar) was built by Marinteknik Verkstads. Her interior is styled by design house Paola D. Smith & Associates and she was completed in 1994. This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of Mulder Design and she was last refitted in 2015. Owned by Ruja Ignatova who renamed it to Davina.[17]

In 2012, she was convicted of fraud in Germany in connection with her father Plamen Ignatov's acquisition of a company that shortly afterwards was declared bankrupt in dubious circumstances; she was given a suspended sentence of 14 months' imprisonment.[18][19] In 2013, she was involved with a multi-level marketing scam called BigCoin.[20] In 2014, she founded a pyramid scheme called OneCoin.[21]

Investigation and disappearance

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An episode of the FBI's series "Inside the FBI" about Ruja Ignatova and how she allegedly robbed investors of billions of dollars

On October 25, 2017, Ignatova traveled from Bulgaria to Athens, then disappeared after she may have been tipped off about increasing police investigations into OneCoin.[22] In 2019, her brother Konstantin Ignatov pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in connection with the scheme.[23]

In 2022, prosecutors in Darmstadt, Germany confirmed an investigation of "a lawyer from Neu-Isenburg" for possible money laundering: the transfer of 7.69 million euros by Ignatova into one of her private accounts in 2016. In January 2022, police searched apartments and offices in Weilburg, Baden-Baden, Frankfurt am Main, Bad Homburg, Neu-Isenburg and Vaihingen.[24]

Afterwards, the North Rhine-Westphalia Police and German Federal Criminal Police Office announced that Ignatova is sought for fraud charges. The Federal Criminal Police Office announced a €5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.[25][26] An Interpol Red Notice followed.[27] This listing was reciprocated by Europol adding Ignatova to its 'most wanted' list; however, Deutsche Welle notes that the Europol listing was removed under unknown circumstances.[28]

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation added Ignatova to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, and announced at a joint press conference with IRS Criminal Investigation and United States Attorney's Office Southern District of New York. The FBI followed up with an episode of its podcast and YouTube series Inside the FBI devoted to Ignatova and the OneCoin case.[29] As of May 2022, there was a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to Ignatova's arrest;[30][31] in June 2024, the reward was increased to $5,000,000.[32][31] In August 2024, a "UK court ordered a global asset freeze for [Ignatova] and her OneCoin associates".[33]

While a 2022 interview with FBI Special Agent Paul Roberts noted that the agency's investigation into Ignatova was "operating under the assumption that she is still alive" and that the agency had "no information" to counter that belief,[34] Bulgarian investigative reporting site Bureau of Investigative Reporting and Data – BIRD published a 2023 report on Bulgarian police documents in which a police informant had overheard Georgi Vasilev, the brother-in-law of the Bulgarian drug lord "Taki" Hristoforos Amanatidis, saying (in an intoxicated state) that Ignatova was murdered in November 2018 on Taki's orders. The alleged murderer, Hristo Hristov, who is also Bulgarian, is serving a sentence in a Dutch prison for drug trafficking. According to the report, Ignatova was murdered aboard a yacht in the Ionian Sea, and her body was dismembered and thrown overboard. The alleged motive for the murder was to conceal Taki's involvement in the OneCoin scam.[10][11]

Ignatova was the subject of a book, The Missing Cryptoqueen, in 2022.[7]

Personal life

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Ignatova was married to the German lawyer Björn Strehl, with whom she had a daughter in 2016.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Продължава издирването на 41-годишна германска гражданка, родена у нас" [Search continues for 41-year-old German national born in Bulgaria]. MOI Press Office. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  2. ^ Kristen Young (October 6, 2019). "OneCoin defendant seeks to suppress statements made to federal agents". Cape Cod Times. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d "Cryptoqueen: How this woman scammed the world, then ran". BBC. November 24, 2019.
  4. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (September 26, 2019). "The mystery of the disappearing 'Cryptoqueen'". BBC.
  5. ^ Bartlett, Jamie (December 15, 2019). "The £4bn OneCoin scam: how crypto-queen Dr Ruja Ignatova duped ordinary people out of billions — then went missing". The Times.
  6. ^ Morris, David Z (November 6, 2019). "Is OneCoin The Biggest Financial Fraud in History?". Fortune. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Bartlett, Jamie (June 7, 2022). The Missing Cryptoqueen: The Billion Dollar Cryptocurrency Con and the Woman Who Got Away with It. New York: Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-306-82916-1.
  8. ^ "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Charges Against Leaders Of "OneCoin," A Multibillion-Dollar Pyramid Scheme Involving The Sale Of A Fraudulent Cryptocurrency". U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York. March 9, 2019.
  9. ^ "View Red Notices". interpol.int. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Tchobanov, Atanas; Stoyanov, Dimitar (February 17, 2023). "MOI documents: Ruja Ignatova was killed on Taki's orders. The head of the Police "Killings" department worked for him". BIRD. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Missing Cryptoqueen's murky links to Bulgarian underworld". BBC News. June 3, 2024. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  12. ^ "BKA – Fahndung nach Personen – Ruja IGNATOVA". bka.de. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  13. ^ "Ruja Ignatova: The crooked cryptoqueen".
  14. ^ "The Outrageous Case of OneCoin, the Billion Dollar Scam Sold as a "Bitcoin Killer"". bitrates.com.
  15. ^ "Abgeschlossene Promotionen". jura.uni-konstanz.de.
  16. ^ Marson, James (August 27, 2020). "OneCoin Took In Billions. Then Its Leader Vanished". The Wall Street Journal.
  17. ^ "Яхтата на Ружа – атракция на Созопол". Standart News (in Bulgarian). July 26, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  18. ^ Stier, Frank. "Das Verstummen der Cryptoqueen". heise online.
  19. ^ "So etwas Dubioses nie erlebt". Kreisbote. January 20, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  20. ^ "BigCoin & BNA: The original OneCoin Ponzi points".
  21. ^ "Co-founder of multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency pyramid scheme "OneCoin" pleads guilty | Internal Revenue Service". www.irs.gov. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  22. ^ "Ruja Ignatova: Leaked police notes may have alerted FBI-wanted Cryptoqueen". BBC News. October 19, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  23. ^ "'Cryptoqueen' brother admits role in OneCoin fraud". BBC News. November 14, 2019.
  24. ^ Rosenbach, Marcel (May 27, 2022). "Krypto-Betrug mit OneCoin: Weiteres Verfahren und Durchsuchungen". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  25. ^ "International – Betrug in Millionenhöhe". polizei.nrw (in German). Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  26. ^ "BKA – Fahndung nach Personen – Ruja IGNATOVA". bka.de. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  27. ^ INTERPOL [@INTERPOL_HQ] (May 11, 2022). "RED NOTICE: Ruja Ignatova, dubbed 'the Cryptoqueen', is #wanted by Germany @bka for fraud and money laundering. A reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of the co-founder of the alleged cryptocurrency 'OneCoin' in hiding since 2017. https://t.co/vz1hwxok9p https://t.co/jvGb8pg6gz" (Tweet). Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023 – via Twitter.
  28. ^ Mazumdaru, Srinivas (July 5, 2022). "Ruja Ignatova: What we know about the OneCoin affair – DW – 07/05/2022". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  29. ^ Inside the FBI Podcast: Top Ten Fugitive Ruja Ignatova. FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation. August 31, 2022. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023 – via YouTube.
  30. ^ Daly, Max (May 12, 2022). "OneCoin's Missing 'Crypto Queen' Is Now One of Europe's Most-Wanted Fugitives". VICE.
  31. ^ a b "RUJA IGNATOVA". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  32. ^ Byrne, Rob (June 27, 2024). "Reward for fugitive 'Cryptoqueen' raised to $5m". BBC News. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
  33. ^ Alecci, Scilla (August 21, 2024). "A UK court ordered a global asset freeze for the 'Cryptoqueen' and her OneCoin associates". ICIJ. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  34. ^ Jamie Bartlett (October 19, 2022). "Episode 11: Operation Satellite – The Missing Cryptoqueen". BBC Documentaries (Podcast). Retrieved March 25, 2023.
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