Ruja
Ignatova, the Founder and mastermind behind the OneCoin crypto fraud, allegedly
resurfaced after vanishing for more than five years. Last week’s property
listing in central London exposed a 42-year-old German citizen of Bulgarian
origin.
Ruja Ignatova, the
OneCoine Founder, Leaves a Trace
According
to information first reported by iNews, the name and surname of the
‘cryptoqueen’ appeared in real estate documents regarding a property in the
London suburb of Kensington, England.
Ignatova
purchased the penthouse for her company, but new regulations in the UK require to
list the name of the ‘beneficial owner’. It forced the criminal to come out of
hiding as she had to be officially named on the document alongside her shell firm.
Prestigious property retailer Knight Frank advertised the £11 million property.
However, the listing was removed after media reports showed the connection between
the penthouse and the wanted criminal.
Why is this
information so important? It suggests that Ignatova is still alive and that real
estate documents might contain clues about her last whereabouts. Even if she
cannot be captured, the property could be used to repay some of her victims.
Watch the recent FMLS22 panel on reimagining the crypto market structure.
The History of OneCoin
Ruja
Ignatova has become extremely popular with international investigative bodies
in recent years. She has made it onto the FBI’s list of the ten most wanted
criminals and has been named by Europol as one of the most wanted fugitives.
Ignatova
and her business partner Sebastian Greenwood launched the OneCoin
cryptocurrency in 2014, advertising it as the future ‘bitcoin killer’. OneCoin
turned out to be one of the largest cryptocurrency scams in history, spreading
to 175 countries where investors lost an estimated $5 billion.
According
to US court documents, the pyramid scheme’s services may have been used by 3
million people at its peak, with total revenue of almost $4 billion between
2014 and 2016.
Investors
were attracted by the vision of high, even tenfold, returns on their initial
investment. However, most of them never saw their money again, and Ignatova and
Greenwood disappeared in 2017. The accomplice was arrested in July 2018 in
Thailand and extradited to the United States. He will be sentenced in
April this year and faces 20 years in prison.
A year
later, Ignatova’s nephew, Konstantin Ignatova, who tried to run a further financial pyramid scheme after his sister’s escape, was also put behind bars.
He will be sentenced next month and is charged with money laundering and fraud
conspiracy.
In 2020, the
US court convicted Mark Scott, OneCoin’s former lawyer. Scott allegedly
helped to launder $400 million of Ignatova’s fraudulently acquired money and
received more than $50 million in commission for his involvement.
Ruja
Ignatova, the Founder and mastermind behind the OneCoin crypto fraud, allegedly
resurfaced after vanishing for more than five years. Last week’s property
listing in central London exposed a 42-year-old German citizen of Bulgarian
origin.
Ruja Ignatova, the
OneCoine Founder, Leaves a Trace
According
to information first reported by iNews, the name and surname of the
‘cryptoqueen’ appeared in real estate documents regarding a property in the
London suburb of Kensington, England.
Ignatova
purchased the penthouse for her company, but new regulations in the UK require to
list the name of the ‘beneficial owner’. It forced the criminal to come out of
hiding as she had to be officially named on the document alongside her shell firm.
Prestigious property retailer Knight Frank advertised the £11 million property.
However, the listing was removed after media reports showed the connection between
the penthouse and the wanted criminal.
Why is this
information so important? It suggests that Ignatova is still alive and that real
estate documents might contain clues about her last whereabouts. Even if she
cannot be captured, the property could be used to repay some of her victims.
Watch the recent FMLS22 panel on reimagining the crypto market structure.
The History of OneCoin
Ruja
Ignatova has become extremely popular with international investigative bodies
in recent years. She has made it onto the FBI’s list of the ten most wanted
criminals and has been named by Europol as one of the most wanted fugitives.
Ignatova
and her business partner Sebastian Greenwood launched the OneCoin
cryptocurrency in 2014, advertising it as the future ‘bitcoin killer’. OneCoin
turned out to be one of the largest cryptocurrency scams in history, spreading
to 175 countries where investors lost an estimated $5 billion.
According
to US court documents, the pyramid scheme’s services may have been used by 3
million people at its peak, with total revenue of almost $4 billion between
2014 and 2016.
Investors
were attracted by the vision of high, even tenfold, returns on their initial
investment. However, most of them never saw their money again, and Ignatova and
Greenwood disappeared in 2017. The accomplice was arrested in July 2018 in
Thailand and extradited to the United States. He will be sentenced in
April this year and faces 20 years in prison.
A year
later, Ignatova’s nephew, Konstantin Ignatova, who tried to run a further financial pyramid scheme after his sister’s escape, was also put behind bars.
He will be sentenced next month and is charged with money laundering and fraud
conspiracy.
In 2020, the
US court convicted Mark Scott, OneCoin’s former lawyer. Scott allegedly
helped to launder $400 million of Ignatova’s fraudulently acquired money and
received more than $50 million in commission for his involvement.
