Ruja Ignatova who is known as the FBI’s most wanted missing cryptoqueen has recently claimed London flat. The scammer disappeared in 2017 as her cryptocurrency OneCoin was at its height – attracting billions from investors. Fraud and money-laundering charges in the US have led to her becoming one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives.
The Oxford-educated entrepreneur told investors she had created the “Bitcoin killer”, but the files suggest she secretly amassed billions in her rival currency before she disappeared. Details first surfaced in 2021 in leaked documents from Dubai’s courts, posted online by a lawyer who crowned Dr Ruja – as she’s known – the “most successful criminal in history”.
One of the FBI’s most wanted fugitive
The Bulgarian woman, believed to be in her 40s, is wanted for her alleged role in running a cryptocurrency scam known as OneCoin. Federal investigators accuse the fugitive of using the scheme to defraud victims out of more than $4bn (£3.2bn). She has been missing since 2017 when US officials signed an arrest warrant and investigators began closing in on her. In 2014, OneCoin, a self-described cryptocurrency, began offering buyers commission if they sold the currency on to more people.
“She timed her scheme perfectly, capitalising on the frenzied speculation of the early days of cryptocurrency,” said Damian Williams, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor. The FBI adds fugitives to its most wanted list when it believes the general public may be able to assist in tracking them down. A bureau notice published on Thursday offered a $100,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of Ms Ignatova, who was charged in 2019 with eight counts including wire fraud and securities fraud.
The most tantalising claim made in Dr Levy’s legal case is that a massive Bitcoin deal was struck with an Emirati royal, Sheikh Saoud bin Faisal Al Qassimi, the son of a wealthy business tycoon.The files further suggest that in 2015, Sheikh Saoud gave Dr Ruja four USB memory sticks containing 230,000 bitcoin – worth €48.5m at the time. In return, Dr Ruja handed over three cheques to Sheikh Saoud from Mashreq Bank, totalling around 210m Emirati dirhams, roughly €50m.
Prior to the alleged deal, Dubai’s Mashreq Bank had begun closing Dr Ruja’s accounts amid money-laundering concerns, so the cheques were unable to be cashed. In 2020, the Dubai authorities unfroze Dr Ruja’s funds, despite the fact that more than a year earlier the US Department of Justice had published an indictment for her, labelling OneCoin a “fraudulent cryptocurrency”.
