The most wanted woman in the crypto world: Ruja Ignatova and her millionaire escape

By
Jose maldonado
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The most wanted woman in the crypto world: Ruja Ignatova and her millionaire escape

Ruja Ignatova is a Bulgarian businesswoman who in 2014 launched a project known as OneCoin. It was promoted as a cryptocurrency that aimed to revolutionize the world of digital assets, blockchain, and decentralized finance. The project seemed a great opportunity and promised high yields Using innovative technology. However, over time, to the astonished eyes of investors and authorities, the plan was exposed and is now one of the largest pyramid frauds or Ponzi schemes in history.

Between the years 2014 and 2017, The blockchain known as OneCoin burst into the cryptocurrency market with its eponymous token.However, this digital asset was not genuine and operated as a Ponzi scheme, affecting just over 3,5 million users worldwide.

To the date, Ruja Ignatova, who has been called the cryptoqueen, is hidden and its whereabouts are unknownIn 2022, Interpol and the FBI issued alerts to locate her and since then, paradoxically, This 44-year-old woman is “one of the FBI’s most wanted men.”, an organization that offers a reward of 5 million dollars to anyone who provides information that facilitates their capture.

Onecoin and all-powerful digital marketing

OneCoin is known today as one of the largest Ponzi schemes, which used the innovative concept of cryptocurrencies as a front. The companies responsible for this scam were OneCoin Ltd. and OneLife Network Ltd., both founded by Bulgarian Ruja Ignatova.

Ignatova played a crucial role in the project's development and expansion, using her charisma, strong, modern businesswoman image, and aggressive marketing strategy to persuade nearly 4 million people worldwide to invest in her blockchain's native token, OneCoin.

A false technological promise

The company presented itself as cutting-edge, claiming to operate on its own blockchain and cryptocurrency. However, investigations following 2017, when Ignatova disappeared with approximately $4 billion, revealed that there was no real technology to support its advertising strategy.

The main idea to attract unwary investors was that OneCoins could be mined with a much higher yield compared to Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Peercoin (PPC), Namecoin (NMC), Dash, Nxt (NXT) and Monero (XMR), which were the existing cryptocurrencies in 2014.

The scam continues

The scam continued until 2017, even though assets from the Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), EOS (EOS), IOTA (MIOTA), and Zcash (ZEC) blockchains were already in the crypto ecosystem. Ignatova continued to claim that her network was more secure and innovative than all of its "competitors." According to the Bulgarian, the project had a total of 120 billion coins or tokens available, which could be used to make payments and stored in its own electronic wallet. However, there was no actual blockchain or payment system associated with OneCoin.

In reality, the parent companies were primarily engaged in the sale of educational materials, which included courses on cryptocurrencies, trading, and investing. This business model was structured under a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme, where buyers were incentivized with rewards if they managed to attract more participants.

Consequently, those who purchased the course packages paid for them in cash and were promised tokens they could supposedly use to mine OneCoins. However, they were never given the assets, and much of the course content was found to be plagiarized.

The risks of relying solely on marketing

In this way, OneCoin is a clear example of how digital marketing can be used to perpetrate large-scale fraud. The lack of regulation and the complexity of the cryptographic environment made it easy for scammers to take advantage of investors' trust. This case serves as a warning about the importance of thoroughly researching any investment before making a decision.

The fall and escape of the crypto queen

Although Ruja Ignatova's empire began to crumble in 2017, doubts about OneCoin emerged as early as 2016. Several countries launched investigations into the company, and authorities in some labeled it a Ponzi scheme.

first warnings

The first to make this claim was the Norwegian Direct Selling Association, which labeled OneCoin a Ponzi scheme in early 2016. In May of that same year, the Hungarian Central Bank warned that OneCoin was a Ponzi scheme.

Furthermore, in 2017, OneCoin claimed to be the first cryptocurrency company to receive an official license from the Vietnamese government to operate legally. However, this statement was officially denied by the Vietnamese authorities.

Breaking and entering and disappearance

Later, in early 2018, OneCoin's offices in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, were raided by police. By then, the company's founder, Ruja Ignatova, had already disappeared in 2017 after a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Despite the arrest warrant and Ruja's disappearance, her brother Konstantin Ignatova assumed leadership and public representation of the company, which apparently continued to operate. However, he was arrested in 2019 and charged with wire fraud and money laundering. In 2022, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Involvement of third parties

Additionally, the Greenwood company, which focuses on providing financial and banking services designed for African American and Latino communities with the goal of bridging the economic and social divide and promoting financial equity, was also involved in this case.

Mark Scott, an American lawyer, was sentenced along with Konstantin to 20 years on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Scott is believed to have helped launder money for the Ignatova brothers.

For this used a network of bank accounts and companies, including Greenwood, to launder nearly $400 million from the OneCoin Ponzi scheme. Authorities investigating the case determined that Scott's financial transactions helped conceal the illicit origin of the money and maintain the appearance of legitimacy of the alleged Bulgarian company.

Today, Greenwood management is in negotiations with authorities to reach a possible plea agreement. It is worth mentioning that the OneCoin case involved not only the FBI in the United States, where the trial took place (in New York City), but to the Europol in Europe already regulatory and police agencies of Norway, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Germany and China.

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