OneCoin founder, Ruja Ignatova, aka “Cryptoqueen,” has now earned a position on the FBI’s top ten most wanted fugitives list. Ignatova has been allegedly accused of defrauding investors of over $4 billion through the OneCoin Ponzi scheme.
Ignatova is best known for her Ponzi scheme, which is described as “one of the biggest scams in history” by The Times. She has also been the talking subject of a BBC podcast from 2019 titled “The Missing Cryptoqueen.”
She created the OnceCoin project, which originated in Bulgaria, and left the organization to disappear in 2017. Federal authorities in Manhattan have accused her of fraud and money laundering in connection with what the government describes as a pyramid scheme.
Ruja Ignatova will be added to the most wanted list prior to the conference
The Southern District of New York’s US Attorney announced in a tweet that a press conference will be held on Thursday at 11 a.m. where she will be added to the ten most wanted fugitive list of the FBI. Ignatova will also earn the title of the only woman to make it on the list of the United States.
Last month Ignatova was added to the most wanted list by Europol. People were also offered a $5,200 award for providing any kind of information that can aid in capturing her.
Konstantin Ignatove, Ruja Ignatova’s brother was also arrested in Los Angeles in March 2019 and pleaded guilty on the grounds of money laundering and fraud. OneCoin was operating as a multilevel marketing network that offered commissions to members who lured others to be part of OneCoin. According to Bloomberg, OneCoin had generated over $3.78 billion in revenue just from the last quarter of 2014.
Ever since 2017, Ruha Ignatova has been on the run, evading the eyes of authorities. Her whereabouts are still unknown to law enforcement.