The FBI launched their most wanted list in 1950 and of the 529 fugitives that have earned an honorable mention, shes one of just 11 women. She can't bring herself to tell them the truth. There are videos of the minister, known as Bishop Fred, leading the congregation in call and response. Nobody - not banks, not governments, or the person who invents it - is in charge or can change it. It was a cryptocurrency company, and it had been running for a while - but it didn't have a blockchain. She spotted that society's defence against OneCoin - the law-makers, the police, and also us in the media would struggle to understand what was happening. I don't want those people I introduced into OneCoin to see me moving around. She feels guilty towards those who she introduced to OneCoin, she says, but also towards her late father, a miner, who worked hard all his life in horrible conditions, and left her the money that she then gave away. The FBI added Dr. Ruja Ignatova, the so-called 'Cryptoqueen,' to its list of Ten Most Wanted fugitives. At first she was told it was something she didn't need to know, but when she persisted she finally got the truth in a voicemail in April 2017. It added that the allegations made about it around the world were being challenged, stating: "Our partners, our customers and our lawyers are fighting successfully against this action around the globe and we are sure that the vision of a new system on the basis of a 'financial revolution' will be established. Both companies were founded by Ignatova and Greenwood. It's no surprise, then, that OneCoin's corporate structure is incredibly complicated. But this is the first principle to grasp: money is only valuable because other people think it's valuable. "I thought, 'What???' To explain this, I need first to explain briefly how a cryptocurrency actually works. "I've been telling her it's changing. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. James Richard Shinn was a book lover. She lives in a concrete house with a tin roof - five small rooms, a small television and a cooking area. Bishop Fred, we learned, is now one of the country's top promoters of OneCoin, though he says it's no longer promoted during church services. Dr Ruja Ignatova has been charged with wire fraud, security fraud and money laundering, by the US authorities By Jamie Bartlett Presenter, The Missing Cryptoqueen In June 2016, Dr Ruja. She could hear the whoops and cheers of thousands of adoring fans in the background. Sky Germany, the U.K.'s Channel 4 and super-indie Fremantle are backing a three-part doc series about the con, which was spearheaded by the mysterious Dr. Ruja Ignatova, who is still on the run . All over the world, people were already investing their savings into OneCoin, hoping to be part of this new revolution. FBI records presented in court documents earlier this year indicate that on 25 October 2017, just two weeks after her Lisbon no-show, she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens. [2][7], Born in Ruse, Bulgaria, in 1980,[8] to a Romani family. In addition to losing their own money, they were the instigators for their loved ones to lose their investments as well. I've even heard that she might be in London. If you believe you have been a victim of fraud in relation to OneCoin or you suspect someone of actively marketing OneCoin, please come forward and report it to Action Fraud online.". Where's the help? [13], In 2012, she was convicted of fraud in Germany in connection with her and 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. The documents show attendees from Bulgaria's Interior Ministry at the March 2017 Europol meeting. So it seems Ruja is still alive, and is able to visit a European capital without fearing arrest. The daughter, we were informed, might be in Frankfurt. Investors who have worked hard their whole life and saved some money risked these savings, believing that by investing in OneCoin they could have a better future. Previously, the property belonged to a company called Abbots House Penthouse Limited, based in Guernsey, a well-known tax haven with very little government oversight. So we start unearthing previous addresses, known friends, old phone numbers, anything that could help us. Born on May 30, 1980, in Bulgaria, Ignatova moved to Germany with her family when she was 10 years old. She asks what news we have about OneCoin. ", I ask him why not. She had no computer or smartphone, to do her own research. She is thought to have undergone several plastic surgeries in order to alter her appearance. For a long time, people have tried to create a form of digital money independent of state-backed currencies. Do you know how they do so? "I was thinking: 'What is my job going to be? Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. I show his results to Bullough, who immediately notices how many British companies there are. So don't worry too much if you don't follow it either.) It was easy: you purchased OneCoin tokens, and these then generated coins, which went into your account. In 2012, she was convicted of fraud in Germany in connection to the acquisition of a steel company that she and her father acquired. Cryptoqueen: How this woman scammed the world, then vanished, BBC News, November 24, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61966824, https://www.banklesstimes.com/news/2021/11/17/onecoin-alive-and-kicking-in-bulgaria-govt-assisted-crypto-pyramid-scheme/. She is best known as the founder of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme known as OneCoin, which The Times has described as "one of the biggest scams in history". It told the BBC: "OneCoin verifiably fulfils all criteria of the definition of a crypto-currency." But the authorities all over the world have been slow to react, partly because the whole area of cryptocurrencies is relatively new. This is also where Dr Ruja's husband - or perhaps ex-husband - lives and works. The force has provided assistance to foreign law enforcement partners in respect of their investigations concerning OneCoin personnel and will continue to do this. He was an Italian immigrant whose investment scam resulted in people losing tens of millions of dollars. The self-styled cryptoqueen even posted a video one week after the birth of her daughter, thanking people for their support and gifts. She was condemned to 14 months suspended jail sentence. It is a tale of 'greed and folly' perhaps even more scandalous than Holmes' billion-dollar Theranos bust-up. On the other hand, Ruja and her collaborators amassed millions, which provided them with an affluent lifestyle: they bought luxury yachts, expensive jewelery and exclusive properties. A reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of the co-founder of the alleged cryptocurrency 'OneCoin' in hiding since 2017. bka.de/oeffentlichkeitsfahndung14", "Ruja Ignatova: What we know about the OneCoin affair DW 07/05/2022", "OneCoin's Missing 'Crypto Queen' Is Now One of Europe's Most-Wanted Fugitives", https://twitter.com/VessOnSecurity/status/1627201381873352704/, "The life and crimes of Ruja Ignatova, new to FBI's 10 Most Wanted Ruja Ignatova", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruja_Ignatova&oldid=1141594616, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Bulgarian-language text, Articles with failed verification from February 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Ms Ignatova disappeared on 25 October 2017 after being tipped off about intensifying police investigations into her OneCoin cryptocurrency. But we were still surprised when, during our internet searches, Frankfurt started appearing over and over again. According to the BBC, farmers in Uganda sold their livestock and invested their money in OneCoin, hoping for a better life for their families and themselves. Dr Ruja herself made a powerful impression too, with her "princess's dresses" and her vision of a financial revolution. You told me it was a cryptocurrency company.'". Ignatova founded Onecoin in concert with Sebastian Greenwood and her brother, Konstantin Ignatov. Some are hiding. Some sources think it could be four times that amount. From the very beginning, she was a gifted child and always at the top of her class. Over the next hour or so she listened carefully to people talking enthusiastically about this exciting new cryptocurrency - how it could transform her fortunes. She now runs Whatsapp support groups for OneCoin investors who realise they have been swindled. "The problem is that when you create this company, no-one checks any of the information provided." "Go back to her life before OneCoin. 2023 BBC. Sixty per cent of the income Igor Alberts and Andreea Cimbala made from OneCoin (in the end, more than 2m per month) was paid in cash, the rest in OneCoin. The problem, he explains, is that following the money isn't as easy as it sounds, because criminals structure their companies and bank accounts in such a way that their assets seem to disappear. We don't know. Igor Alberts, the MLM kingpin, said he'd heard she has Russian and Ukrainian passports and travels back and forth between Russia and Dubai. Author's note: I am not an expert in cryptocurrencies. Far from putting an end to their financial worries, she and her friends and family had thrown a quarter of a million euros away. A change in the rules of Companies House the UK equivalent of ASIC forced Ignatova out of hiding, as she had to be named in full rather than just her shell company. I ask her how much she earned from selling OneCoin and she says it was 3,000 - 1,800 of which she received in cash, and which she used to buy more OneCoin. The documents include details of US authorities having a "high-placed confidential informant", OneCoin bank accounts receiving investor funds, and unsuccessful efforts by the UK's City of London Police to interview Ms Ignatova. It starts to get very very very scary, very very very fast." He points out that he spent millions buying OneCoin, possibly more than anyone else. There's a famous saying in journalism, "Follow the money." "I'm somehow hiding myself. After Jen McAdam invested into OneCoin she was constantly told she was part of the OneCoin "family". They, like almost everyone else involved, were convinced they were earning a fortune. At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. She was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted in June 2022. Today doors are locked. The UK began to insist recently that companies must enter the name of the person with "significant control" - the real owner. All of them were "very up-tempo, full of beans, full of passion", she remembers. Reluctantly, she agreed to a conversation on Skype. Barely a year later, she bamboozled billions and left it behind (not the money) - family included. The only way to exchange these OneCoins for any other currency was through an internal marketplaceOneCoin Exchange, known as xcoinx. Her biggest aspiration was just to be rich. VIA HACHETTE BOOKS. Every time a Bitcoin is sent from me to someone else, a record of that transaction goes into everyone's book. In 2016 it was here that 22-year-old Daniel Lienhardt came as he was scraping together the 700,000 Ugandan shillings ($250) he needed to buy a OneCoin starter package. That meant that investors could no longer trade their OneCoins and retrieve their investments. She studied at Oxford University and received a PhD in International Law from the University of Constance. It meant Ignatova was kept out of public records and land registry deeds until now. In October 2022, a documentary called "CryptoqueenThe OneCoin Scam" debuted at Mipcom Cannes. Frantic calls and messages went unanswered. On October 25, two weeks after the Lisbon event, she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens, Greece. And every item of clothing is Dolce and Gabbana. Igor returned with a new mission - and gave new instructions to all the salespeople in his downline: stop whatever you're doing, and start selling OneCoin. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is responsible for regulating financial markets in the UK, issued a warning on its website only in September 2016. [16] In 2014, she founded a pyramid scheme called OneCoin. "You are so lucky that you're seeing this webinar right now," she was told. She watched excitedly on the OneCoin website as the value of her coins steadily rose. "If Dr. Ruja still has the 230,000 bitcoins, she would be one of the currency's largest holders. In August this year, the City of London police ended a two-year investigation into OneCoin. (Source: Indias Magazine) The pair are blessed with one daughter. This is a pyramid scheme, and it's very illegal. Since then, he has pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering and fraud charges, and is due to be sentenced next month. This scam is estimated to be well over four billion dollars. On 6 March 2019 Konstantin Ignatov was at Los Angeles International airport, waiting to fly back to Bulgaria after some OneCoin meetings in the US. Dr. Ruja Ignatova is the only scammer who is on both the FBI and Interpol's 2022 Ten Most Wanted Lists. Levy launched a legal case for compensation for OneCoin victims with British Indian Ocean Territory because it hosted a web domain, allegedly used by OneCoin. In 2020, it was announced that Jennifer McAdam will be portrayed by Kate Winslet in an upcoming Hollywood film about the OneCoin fraud. Bjercke would get an apartment and a car - and an attractive annual salary of about 250,000. But there was something very important these investors didn't know. According to OneCoin, its main business was selling educational material for cryptocurrency trading. Ruja Ignatova, also known as the "missing Cryptoqueen", received police information about investigations into her $4bn (3.5bn) cryptocurrency fraud before she disappeared, it is claimed. asked Bjercke. Ms Ignatova, a 42-year-old Bulgaria-born German national, disappeared on 25 October 2017 after being tipped-off about intensifying police investigations into her Sofia-based scam. While in Waltenhofen, we learned that she had a German husband, a lawyer for the well-known firm, Linklaters. "You will find her," he said. 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