Ruja Ignatova, mastermind of the infamous pyramid Onecoin, is now considered one of Europe’s most needed fugitives. Also referred to as the “Crypto Queen,” she disappeared virtually 5 years in the past, after the Ponzi scheme she led collected billions of {dollars} from defrauded traders around the globe.
Europol Seeks Data on Onecoin Inventor’s Whereabouts
The European Union Company for Regulation Enforcement Cooperation, Europol, is now providing a reward of as much as €5,000 ($5,200) for any data that might result in the arrest of Ruja Ignatova, suspected of masterminding one of many largest scams in crypto historical past, Onecoin.
The announcement describes Ignatova, a physician of legislation, because the “driving drive and mental inventor of the alleged cryptocurrency Onecoin.” She is suspected of inducing traders all around the world to place cash into “this really nugatory ‘forex’,” Europol notes.
The company additionally factors out that the fraud-related losses to the Ponzi scheme which were established to this point are within the higher double-digit million vary, whereas additionally acknowledging that the whole harm induced on a worldwide scale is prone to quantity to a number of billion U.S. {dollars}. Europol explains:
The needed individual’s whereabouts have been unknown since 25 October 2017, and he or she has not appeared in public since this date, neither in reference to OneCoin nor in any other case.
Ignatova has been accused of “fraud, together with that affecting the monetary pursuits of the European Communities inside the which means of the Conference of 26 July 1995.” The promised reward is meant just for personal people that present essential details about her location and never for officers prosecuting legal offenses.
The Crypto Queen has been added to Europe’s Most Wished record on the initiative of the German legislation enforcement authorities. In response to an announcement printed by the police within the western German province of North Rhine-Westphalia, the €5,000 reward has been provided by the general public prosecutor’s workplace in Bielefeld.
Onecoin was launched by Bulgarian-born German nationwide Ruja Ignatova in 2014. The challenge’s cryptocurrency was marketed because the “Bitcoin killer” and promoted by way of Bulgaria-based offshore entities Onecoin Ltd., registered in Dubai, and the Belize-incorporated Onelife Community Ltd. Each have been based by Ignatova and her associate Sebastian Greenwood, who’s now jailed within the U.S.
Ruja’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov, who can also be a co-founder of Onecoin, was arrested in Los Angeles in 2019 and charged with committing monetary crimes. He has since began cooperating with investigators engaged on the case, testified about Onecoin’s hyperlinks to organized crime, pleaded responsible, and sought witness safety.
In November, a lawyer representing traders urged Bulgaria to behave on the case, claiming the rip-off was nonetheless working from the nation. In a petition with the Bulgarian ombudsman, Jonathan Levy accused officers of failing to offer justice to the victims. He additionally alleged that the Ignatovs and Onecoin entities have been nonetheless in command of property, crypto property, and fiat funds exceeding €12.5 billion (over $13 billion).
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