A glamorous jet-setting fugitive referred to as the “Cryptoqueen” who oversaw a $4 billion Ponzi scheme akin to Bernie Madoff now has a $5 million bounty on her head, the FBI announced Thursday.
Ruja Ignatova, an Oxford College-educated Bulgarian nationwide charged with wooing unsuspecting purchasers to spend fortunes on nugatory cryptocurrency, stays one of many FBI’s most elusive “Most Wished” suspects after dodging worldwide authorities for seven years.
“She might journey on a German passport to the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, Greece and/or Jap Europe,” the feds mentioned — a nod to how slippery the accused artful felony has been since final being noticed in 2017.
The brunette braniac, who has a penchant for blood-red lipstick, is believed to be touring with armed guards or associates — and should have had cosmetic surgery to change her look, the FBI added.
Ignatova has claimed her beginning date is Could 30, 1980, making her 44 years outdated, the company mentioned. It added that she speaks three languages, English, German and Bulgarian.
“Ignatova was the founding father of OneCoin Ltd., a Bulgaria-based firm that marketed a purported cryptocurrency,” the feds mentioned in an announcement.
“In an effort to execute the scheme, Ignatova allegedly made false statements and representations to people in an effort to solicit investments in OneCoin. All through the scheme, OneCoin is believed to have defrauded victims out of greater than $4 billion.”
The suspect reportedly grew up dust poor in Bulgaria, the place her father labored in a tire store — and the place she developed her obsession for cash.
At her peak, her properties included a penthouse within the posh Kensington part of London and a greater than $7 million “superyacht” dubbed the “Davina.”
Ignatova was final noticed Oct. 25, 2017, when she took a industrial flight from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece — and has been within the wind since, federal authorities mentioned.
Her wingman, Swedish nationwide Karl Greenwood, was tracked down and hit with a 20-year sentence in US District Courtroom in Manhattan final 12 months after pleading responsible to wire fraud and cash laundering.
Greenwood pocketed greater than $300 million within the cryptocurrency rip-off and used it to fund a lavish life-style that included the acquisition of a Sunseeker yacht — till he was busted in Thailand in 2018.
At his sentencing, US District Choose Edgardo Ramos likened the OneCoin rip-off to the Madoff debacle, calling it as “huge in lots of respects.”
Authorities mentioned at the least 3.5 million traders had been duped into the OneCoin.
Ignatova was added to the FBI Most Wanted list in June 2022, with the feds initially providing a $250,000 reward for her seize and conviction.
Ignatova is not any dummy — regardless of her now infamous standing, she was as soon as described as an excellent scholar who earned a scholarship to the distinguished Konstanz College, thought of the “Harvard of Germany,” and went on to earn a grasp’s diploma in comparative European Regulation from Oxford College.
However in line with prosecutors, she and her associate created OneCoin “as a fraud from day one.”
