The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has added Ruja Ignatova, who has been dubbed the ‘crypto queen’ to the list of ‘ten most wanted fugitives’.
Back in 2014, Ignatova and his gang launched ” OneCoin ” – the cryptocurrency that was touted as about to replace Bitcoin and become token leading the world’s .
Taking advantage of the popularity of cryptocurrencies at the time, Ignatova and her accomplices tricked investors into pouring money into one of the largest multi-level scams in crypto history. As a result, the scam has caused serious damage to many investors around the world, many of which are Vietnamese .
“Many victims around the world have been severely affected by this incident. That’s why we want to bring her to justice as soon as possible,” said New York Ronald Shimko.
According to the court of the Southern District of New York, Ignatova scammed more than 4 billion USD through OneCoin. Along with that are a series of important figures in the same line, such as Ignatova’s brother – Konstantin Ignatov – who has pleaded guilty and is waiting to receive 90 years in prison; Sebastian Greenwood, detained in Thailand in 2018 and later extradited to the US, is currently awaiting trial; Another accomplice, American lawyer Mark Scott, was convicted in November 2019 for participating in laundering $400 million with OneCoin.
However, the “crypto queen” did not leave a trace before the prosecution and federal arrest warrant was announced. The FBI said she moved from Sofia (Bulgaria) to Athens (Greece) on October 25, 2017 and then “disappeared”.
The FBI offers a $100,000 reward for valuable information that can help catch this “crypto queen” soon. Not only the US, Ignatova has been hunted by the European Police Agency (Europol), and OneCoin’s lines in many countries have been dismantled, such as Belgium, UK, Uganda, Italy. , Nigeria, Germany, India, Hungary, Belize, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, China , Samoa and Vietnam.
