Flight of the "Cryptoqueen": How Fugitive Ruja Ignatova Scammed Investors out of $4 Billion and Vanished
By the time Ruja Ignatova's business OneCoin was determined to be a massive pyramid scheme, the Bulgarian native had disappeared. Today, she is one of the most wanted women in the world
Background
In the mid-2010s, an ambitious Bulgarian entrepreneur was a rising star in the finance world. Ruja Ignatova had the smarts, sophistication, confidence, and charisma that could disarm the most adamant sceptics and convert non-believers.
So, how did she go from a life of glamor, wealth, and luxury to one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives? This is the story of Ruja Ignatova, “The Cryptoqueen.”
Ruja Ignatova
Ruja Ignatova was born on May 30, 1980, in Ruse, Bulgaria. Her father was an engineer, and her mother was a school teacher. When she was 10 years old, she and her family left Bulgaria to start a new life in Germany.
Despite moving to a new, foreign place, her teachers were pleasantly surprised to see that this little girl was a fiercely ambitious student, an independent thinker, and had excellent grades.
Her focus and dedication led to multiple scholarships and opportunities. She attended the University of Konstanz in Germany, earning a PhD in private international law, and received a Master’s degree in European law from Oxford University.
Yet it seemed that building a solid career in law was not enough for her. After brief employment as a consultant with the global management firm McKinsey & Company, there was only one thing brewing in her mind: to become rich as quickly as possible.
Joining the “Financial Revolution”
Ruja’s first run-in with the law took place in 2012. She was accused and convicted of fraud in connection with a company she and her father had acquired, which ultimately went bankrupt under suspicious circumstances. Ruja managed to avoid jail time, instead receiving a 14-month suspended sentence.
The failed venture paved the way for a rare opportunity in a new and controversial concept in the finance world: Cryptocurrency. In 2013, she was instrumental in launching BigCoin, a Ponzi scheme based out of Hong Kong.
The currency had no value whatsoever, and the scheme relied solely on the number of people who would be drawn into the fraudulent business. It wasn’t long until BigCoin collapsed. Nevertheless, the idea stuck, and Ignatova wanted to perfect it.
OneCoin Scam
In 2014, she founded the company, OneCoin, with the help of businessman Sebastian Greenwood. OneCoin sought to defraud its investors out of millions of dollars. OneCoin was not your traditional cryptocurrency. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which must be “mined” online in order to be created, and is a decentralized peer-to-peer currency that is recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, OneCoin did not have any of those safeguards.
The FBI described Ruja’s process as this: “In order to execute the scheme, Ignatova allegedly made false statements and representations to individuals in order to solicit investments in OneCoin. She allegedly instructed victims to transmit investment funds to OneCoin accounts in order to purchase OneCoin packages, causing victims to send wire transfers representing these investments.”
Additionally, OneCoin offered courses and resources for individuals seeking to master cryptocurrency trading. There were also promises of the company doubling coins in investors’ accounts.
OneCoin was marketed as a revolutionary, global currency that offered financial freedom with no restrictions, with Ignatova as its queen. But OneCoin’s attractive slogan, ‘Join the Financial Revolution,’ was anything but liberating. There were no returns, only false promises, and destroyed lives left in her wake.
Ignatova’s associates described her as “the smartest person in the room,” and she wasn’t afraid to show it. She proudly displayed her credentials, whether solicited or not. She was on top of the world, enjoying immense luxuries like private jets, mansions, and yachts. In 2016, she married a German lawyer named Björn Strehl, with whom she has a daughter.
On the Run
Eventually, banking institutions and law enforcement began to become suspicious. They started placing restrictions on OneCoin’s activities. They found that the company did not have a blockchain, a tool for tracking cryptocurrency transactions. That was the first red flag. Additionally, investors were not seeing the returns they had been promised.
The FBI, IRS, Interpol, and intelligence agencies in several countries were on to her. Ignatova started to get paranoid. Her own lover, Gilbert Armenta, who also helped her launder money, decided to cooperate with the FBI and help gather evidence to prosecute her.
When she found out that Armenta had betrayed her and that US authorities were closing in on her, Ignatova had her brother Konstin book her and a bodyguard a flight to Greece. Ignatova and her companion boarded a Ryanair flight to Athens on October 25, 2017. She then vanished into thin air while her bodyguard returned to Bulgaria. She has been deemed “the missing cryptoqueen” as she has not been seen since.
Alleged Criminal Ties
An investigation by journalists at the BBC found Ruja Ignatova’s ties to the criminal underworld, particularly with organized crime groups in Bulgaria. According to various sources, interviews with her former employees and others, it was revealed that Ignatova’s paranoia and threats from individuals in Dubai and the UK led her to recruit these criminal networks to protect her.
A mysterious figure and alleged drug lord named Hristoforos ‘Taki’ Amanatidis may have protected her at one point. According to some sources, they might have been very close at one point. There were also some financial ties between the two as well.
BBC journalists revealed that a man who used to work for Taki, named Krasimir Kamenov, offered to help the FBI in their search for Ignatova before he was suddenly assassinated at his home in Cape Town.
Before he died, Kamenov told Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Stoyanov how Taki told him that Ruja was “good as dead” after becoming a liability to their criminal activities. She knew, saw, and heard too much. Kamenov then gave Stoyanov a report that Ignatova was killed on a yacht sailing on the Ionian Sea and that Taki was responsible.
People who started to look into Taki and his criminal activities were winding up dead. But was Ignatova really dead? The question remains unanswered. As of May 2023, there were supposed sightings of her alive in Cape Town, South Africa. So far, authorities still have not been able to locate her.
In 2019, her brother Konstin pleaded guilty and served time for fraud and money laundering. According to sources, he maintained contact with Ruja throughout her disappearance. It is speculated that Ruja’s daughter is most likely in the care of family members in Bulgaria, while her ex-husband, Björn, was charged with three counts of money laundering.
Fugitive Status
The FBI alleges that OneCoin defrauded its investors out of more than $4 billion. Ruja Ignatova is wanted for fraud and other related charges. In addition to being one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives, she has an active Interpol Red Notice and is wanted in multiple countries. She is currently one of the most high-profile international fugitives.
In 2024, the FBI increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of Ignatova from $250,000 to $5 million.
Sources:
Marshall. “Meet The Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova: The Mastermind Behind The OneCoin Scam.” BroadBiography, 4 August 2023, https://broadbiography.com/biography/crime/cryptoqueen-ruja-ignatova/
“Missing Cryptoqueen’s murky links to Bulgarian underworld.” BBC, 3 June 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2llvlx2ez9o
Karimi, Faith. “This ‘Cryptoqueen’ scammed investors out of $4 billion, the FBI says. Then she boarded a plane and disappeared.” CNN, 22 January 2023, https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/22/business/ruja-ignatova-cryptoqueen-fbi-most-wanted-cec
Walker, Liana. “‘Cryptoqueen’ accused of $US4 billion OneCoin fraud added to FBI’s most-wanted list.” ABC News, 1 July 2022, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-01/onecoin-cryptoqueen-ruja-ignatova-on-fbi-most-wanted-list/101199868
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