Ruja Ignatova |
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r._Ruja_Ignatova.jpg" class="image" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(6, 69, 173); background: none;"> Ignatova in 2015 |
| Born | 30 May 1980 (age 42)
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| Disappeared | 25 October 2017 (aged 37)
Athens, Greece[1] |
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| Status | Missing for 4 years, 8 months and 7 days |
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| Nationality | Bulgaria (formerly),[2] Germany |
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| Known for | OneCoin Ponzi scheme |
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| Criminal charge | Fraud |
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| Penalty | 16 months' suspended imprisonment for a previous case. Up to 90 years for the Ponzi scheme |
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Reward amount | $100,000 |
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Ruja Ignatova (Bulgarian: Ружа Игнатова) (born 30 May 1980) is a Bulgarian convicted fraudster. She is best known as the founder of a Ponzi scheme known as OneCoin, which The Times has described as "one of the biggest scams in history".[3][4][5] She was the subject of the 2019 BBC podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen.[6]
Since 2017, Ignatova has been on the run from various international law enforcement agencies. In early 2019, she was charged in absentia by U.S. authorities for wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. She was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted in June 2022.[3]
Early life and education[edit]
Born in Ruse, Bulgaria[7] to a Romani family, Ignatova immigrated to Germany with her family when she was ten years old, and spent part of her childhood in Schramberg in the state of Baden-Württemberg.[8][3] In 2005, she earned a PhD in private international law from the University of Constance with the dissertation Art. 5 Nr. 1 EuGVO – Chancen und Perspektiven der Reform des Gerichtsstands am Erfüllungsort, which discusses lex causae in conflict of laws.[9] She reportedly has also worked for McKinsey & Company.[10]
In November 2011, Ignatova invested in Asdin Ran's beauty salon The Hall of Transvestites Ursula.[11]
Criminal activities[edit]
In 2012, she was convicted of fraud in Germany in connection with her and her father Plamen Ignatov's acquisition of a company that shortly afterwards was declared bankrupt in dubious circumstances; she was given a suspended sentence of 14 months' imprisonment.[12][13]
In 2013, she was involved with a multi-level marketing scam called BigCoin.[14]
In 2014, she founded a Ponzi scheme called OneCoin. On or about 25 October 2017, she boarded a Ryanair flight out of Sofia to Athens, Greece and disappeared.[1] In 2019, her brother Konstantin Ignatov pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in connection with the scheme.[15]
In 2022, the police in Germany confirmed an investigation of "a lawyer from Neu-Isenburg" for possible money laundering: the transfer of 7.69 million euros by Ignatova into one of his private accounts in 2016. In January 2022 police searched apartments and offices in Weilburg, Baden-Baden, Frankfurt am Main, Bad Homburg, Neu-Isenburg and Vaihingen.[16]
In May 2022, Europol added Ignatova to its 'most wanted' list.[17] On 30 June 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation added Ignatova to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, at a joint press conference with IRS Criminal Investigation and United States Attorney's Office Southern District of New York, offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to her arrest.[18]
Personal life[edit]
Ignatova was married to a German lawyer, with whom she had a daughter in 2016.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruja_Ignatova
