The FBI has increased the reward offered for information on Ruji Ignatova, a notorious cryptocurrency scammer.
On June 26, 2024, US authorities suddenly increased the reward for information on Ruja Ignatova, also known by the nickname “CryptoQueen”. A Bulgarian national was indicted in the United States in October 2017 for her alleged role in the massive OneCoin cryptocurrency scam.
The company, founded by Sebastian Greenwood and Ruja Ignatova, took advantage of the excitement surrounding cryptocurrencies to sell training courses and a currency called OneCoin. After almost 4 billion dollars of investments, the company was under the supervision of many countries due to suspicion of fraud. Many participants never saw their return, and the affair turned out to actually be a Ponzi scheme where newcomers were paid with money from previous investors.
Sebastian Greenwood was arrested in Thailand in 2018 and sentenced to 20 years in prison in the United States. That leaves Ruja Ignatová, wanted for seven years for fraud and money laundering. The FBI originally wanted $100,000 for information about the fugitive. Norwegian media exposure E24 may have encouraged US authorities to up the ante.
Information about Ruja Ignatova’s apartment in Dubai is leaking
Last May, E24 and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists uncovered a data leak from a real estate company in Dubai. Ruja Ignatova’s name appears in the documents, especially during the sale of the penthouse that belongs to her in 2019.
That’s enough for the FBI to start looking for the former “crypto queen” again. Law enforcement officials believe that Ruja may have altered her face with cosmetic surgery. She allegedly holds a German and a Russian passport.
In 2018, according to many rumors, she was dead, murdered by the Bulgarian mafia. A BBC podcast called “The Missing CryptoQueen” reported in 2022 that the FBI was still investigating her and suggested that she was still alive.