Ruja Ignatova, who’s notoriously often called the “Cryptoqueen,” has evaded seize for 5 years and authorities are nonetheless clueless as to the whereabouts of the girl behind the notorious OneCoin Ponzi scheme.
The Bulgarian nationwide who’s now included on the checklist of prime 10 most needed fugitives of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) managed to search out her means out of joint makes an attempt for arrest by U.S. and European legislation enforcement means again in October 2017.
After 5 years, the German court docket and prosecutor assigned to the case nonetheless awaits the looks of the Cryptoqueen who, based on rumors, was final seen fleeing to Greece to hunt refuge from the all-out efforts for her seize.
However very similar to different people like Terra’s Do Kwon who had been concerned in alleged crypto-related scams, Ignatova appears to be pulling all the precise strings to stay hidden and keep out of the grasp of authorities.
Cryptoqueen’s OneCoin Rip-off
Even with out a functioning blockchain to indicate for, the Cryptoqueen, impressively, managed to persuade over 3 million people throughout greater than 100 nations to put money into her firms – OneCoin Ltd and OneLife Community Ltd.
Ignatova enticed these folks with the OneCoin cryptocurrency which she claimed was mineable and was greater than considerable in provide (round 120 billion). She additional lured them with guarantees such because the asset works like simply some other crypto and can be utilized as fee.
It turned out the digital asset couldn’t be actively traded and couldn’t be used to purchase something. By the point the purchasers realized they invested in one thing that received’t give them their cash’s value, it was already too late.
Ruja Ignatova, Image: The Instances
Stories declare the Ponzi rip-off of Cryptoqueen began in Bulgaria on 2014 and the sum of money unlawfully carted away by Ignatova reached over $4 billion.
The FBI is providing a $100,000 reward for data that results in her arrest.
Whereas Ignatova and her enterprise associate promised that their Onecoin cryptocurrency could be a “Bitcoin Killer,” there was neither a blockchain nor an area cryptocurrency behind their pyramid scheme.
Trial For The Ponzi Scheme Commences
In the meantime, even with the absence of Cryptoqueen, trial for the large rip-off she perpetrated commenced by way of listening to in a German Courtroom on October 18.
Three of Ignatova’s co-accused appeared in court docket to face expenses that embody cash laundering, fraud and different bank-related crimes.
Considered one of them was a former authorized counsel for the Cryptoqueen who allegedly facilitated the switch of $19.7 million to the Cayman Islands. The cash was supposedly used for the acquisition of two London residences.
The opposite two are spouses who illegally dealt with OneCoin buyer funds for a 12 months amounting to 320 million euros.
Because the indictment for the accused was learn, the German prosecutor assigned to listen to the case referred to as OneCoin “a rip-off.”
“In actuality, the ever-growing worth (of OneCoin) was a faux and the mining course of was solely simulated by software program,” prosecutors stated, as quoted in a report by Bloomberg Information, Wednesday.
British each day newspaper The Instances describes the operation “one of many largest frauds in historical past”.
Crypto whole market cap at $879 billion on the each day chart | Featured picture from BBC, Chart: TradingView.com
