It’s a mystery that US authorities have been struggling to solve for six years. As BFMTV recalls, Ruja Ignatova, who had made a name for herself by defrauding many investors, is on the FBI’s list of the 10 most wanted fugitives in the world. The last sign of life for this Bulgarian, who would be 42 years old today, dates back to October 25, 2017.
That day, the self-proclaimed “king of cryptocurrencies”, took a flight from Bulgaria to Athens. The United States has issued an arrest warrant for her after the gigantic OneCoin scam, which allowed her to steal more than $4 billion from investors between 2014 and 2017 with her fake cryptocurrency. The intelligence services have lost track of her and even doubt that she is still alive.
Ruja Ignatova is charged with numerous counts of fraud by American justice and the authorities promise up to 100,000 dollars for any information that could lead to her arrest.
FBI investigators describe for their part a more than cunning woman who could have managed to slip through the cracks of the Interpol net. “Ignatova is believed to be traveling with armed guards or associates. It’s possible that Ignatova had plastic surgery or altered her appearance in any way,” her listing reads. According to the FBI, “the latter can travel with a German passport to the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, Greece or Eastern Europe”.
Their scheme would fall apart in 2017 after many investors noticed that it was impossible for them to recover their funds. The one who therefore developed one of the biggest cryptocurrency scams in history would also have considerable funds since she would be, with 230,000 fungible tokens, the largest holder of bitcoins in the world.
Recently, a Bulgarian investigative newspaper revealed that Ruja Ignatova was allegedly murdered in November 2018 on a yacht, on the orders of a drug baron. His remains were reportedly dismembered and thrown into the Ionian Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. Despite the many documents provided in the article, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry has never confirmed this information and the mystery surrounding the scammer remains intact.
