A woman known as the “CryptoQueen” who is accused of defrauding investors out of $4bn (£3.3bn) by selling fake cryptocurrency has been placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives list.
Ruya Ignatova’s story came to light in 2019 through the BBC’s The Missing Cryptoqueen podcast, which detailed her alleged role in a crypto scam called OneCoin. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Bulgarian-born Ignatova, who disappeared in 2017.
The FBI added that Ignatova, a German national, is believed to have traveled with armed guards and may have had cosmetic surgery to alter her appearance.
The 42-year-old was charged in 2019 with eight crimes, including wire fraud and securities fraud, for running Bulgaria-based OneCoin Ltd as a pyramid scheme. Prosecutors say the company offered commissions to members to lure others into buying worthless cryptocurrency. Investor losses were over $4 billion.
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“She planned her scheme perfectly, taking advantage of the frenzied speculation of the early days of cryptocurrency,” said Damien Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
Williams described OneCoin as “one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history.”
Ignatova disappeared in late 2017 after she bugged an apartment belonging to her boyfriend in America and learned he was cooperating with an FBI investigation into OneCoin, Williams said. She boarded a flight from Bulgaria to Greece and has been missing since then, he said.
Michael Driscoll, assistant director of the FBI in New York, declined to comment on any leads on Ignatova’s whereabouts. The bureau adds fugitives to its most wanted list when it believes the public can help track them down.
“She left with a huge amount of money,” Driscoll told reporters. “Money can buy a lot of friends and I’d imagine she’s taking advantage of that.”
Ignatova was charged along with Mark Scott, a former corporate lawyer who prosecutors said laundered about $400 million for OneCoin. Scott was found guilty of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud after a three-week trial in Manhattan federal court.
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