"Particularly if you have invested something, not only money, but belief, reputation, intelligence. The agent replied that this was correct. Dr Ruja Ignatova offered a cryptocurrency of her own devising called OneCoin. In March 2016 it was announced that the exchange would be closing down for two weeks for maintenance. The book is called The Missing Cryptoqueen: The Billion Dollar Cryptocurrency Con and the Woman Who Got Away With It. No wonder it spread like wildfire. Then a few days later we received a call from a trusted source we cannot identify. Daniel took me and Georgia to meet Prudence, who first introduced him to OneCoin. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Many were struck by the personality and persuasiveness of the "visionary" Dr Ruja. According to the report, Ignatova was murdered aboard a yacht in the Ionian Sea, and her body was dismembered and cast overboard. Ignatova was a convincing speaker. Her biggest aspiration was just to be rich. He told us we were right - Frankfurt is indeed where she spends much of her time. The FBI launched their most wanted list in 1950 and of the 529 fugitives that have earned an honorable mention, shes one of just 11 women. They thought I ate their money.". Like this one at Wembley Arena in London in 2016. 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Until this week, however, the OneCoin head office remained open for business - and people were continuing to promote the currency. When Georgia and I called them ourselves to check, they confirmed it. What's he waiting for? But it seems it's not just the promise of riches that keeps people believing. Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. When you're dealing with a scam worth billions of euros, it's not unusual for shadowy groups to get involved. [24], The Federal Bureau of Investigation added Ignatova to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, and announced 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. It told the BBC: "OneCoin verifiably fulfils all criteria of the definition of a crypto-currency." But the authorities all over the world have been slow to react, partly because the whole area of cryptocurrencies is relatively new. From either Greece or Romania Dr Ruja could be extradited to the US. she replied, sharply. Nobody - not banks, not governments, or the person who invents it - is in charge or can change it. And every item of clothing is Dolce and Gabbana. It's mathematic. This is a pyramid scheme, and it's very illegal. Reluctantly, she agreed to a conversation on Skype. VideoAt the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Why Covid lab-leak theory is now being taken seriously, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip, Ukraine war casts shadow over India's G20 ambitions, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Ruja Plamenova Ignatova (Bulgarian: , romanized:Rua Plamenova Ignatova; born 30 May 1980) is a Bulgarian-born German citizen and convicted fraudster. The article follows the life of a woman who started with the best possible education and a gifted personality, but threw it all away by making the worst possible life choices. "They're very easy to set up and they look legitimate.". Then we started looking at some old photos of Ruja, and spotted one friend who appeared with her all the way back to 2011. The BBC was not able to verify all of the documents leaked. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. "I thought, 'What???' The opening of a long-promised exchange that would allow OneCoin to be turned into cash kept being delayed - and investors were growing more and more concerned. When Georgia and I visited Sofia a month later, Dr Ruja's personal mansion appeared to be locked up and empty, but the OneCoin office gave every appearance of being a busy workplace. Investors often told us that what drew them in initially was the fear that they would miss out on the next big thing. Maybe it's just a delay. There's a famous saying in journalism, "Follow the money." Onecoin's Ruja Ignatova is a mysterious woman who has been on the run for over three years now. The Federal Criminal Police Office announced a 5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Files seen by the BBC from Europol meetings suggest the FBI-wanted fugitive knew about efforts to arrest her months before she vanished. Ruja Ignatova was born in Sofia but moved to Germany when she was 8 years old. At one, in July 2017, the American pop star Bebe Rexha performed a private set. It's going to go bigger. On 6 March 2019 Konstantin Ignatov was at Los Angeles International airport, waiting to fly back to Bulgaria after some OneCoin meetings in the US. "She was on her way. "In two years, nobody will speak about Bitcoin any more!" She reportedly earned a PhD in private international law from the University of Constance and has a daughter who. James Richard Shinn was a book lover. "I was thinking: 'What is my job going to be? But later we hear that we might have been in the presence of Dr Ruja - that she was there, in the same room, right in front of our noses. In an interconnected global economy, assets can simply vanish, and you end up chasing shadows. Ruja Ignatova, also known as the "missing Cryptoqueen", received police information about investigations into her $4bn (3.5bn) cryptocurrency fraud before she disappeared, it is claimed. She studied at Oxford University and received a PhD in International Law from the University of Constance. Ruja Ignatova celebrating her birthday with her husband and OneCoin members. If it's true she was in these countries earlier this year, she probably has a fake identity. Then he tries checking the company's owners. The reason so many people are excited by Bitcoin is that it solves that problem. If anyone asks Prudence when the investment is going to deliver the promised riches, she tells them to wait. Frantic calls and messages went unanswered. The head office in Sofia, where she was such an imposing presence, didn't know anything either. Except now with plastic surgery, and so harder to spot. But towards the end of the year Jen McAdam was contacted by a stranger on the internet. And that friend was visiting the richest neighbourhood in Frankfurt in summer this year. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. He introduced her to Bjorn Bjercke, the blockchain developer who said there was no blockchain. "I've been telling her it's changing. Phil and Georgia both recruit two people, and then all four of them recruit two more, and so on. "When you talk about the amount of money that's been put into OneCoin of course there's people out there who are pissed off and would do anything to shut anyone like me up," says Bjorn Bjercke, the blockchain expert who discovered there was no blockchain, and started talking about it publicly. She was dressed, as usual, in an expensive. Igor returned with a new mission - and gave new instructions to all the salespeople in his downline: stop whatever you're doing, and start selling OneCoin. MLM is not illegal. Levy launched a legal case for compensation for OneCoin victims with British Indian Ocean Territory because it hosted a web domain, allegedly used by OneCoin. More folk are going to promote this. She had no computer or smartphone, to do her own research. A couple of people looked at the photographs and paused for a long time, raising our hopes - but then said they didn't recognise her. FBI records presented in court documents earlier this year indicate that on 25 October 2017, just two weeks after her Lisbon no-show, she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens. [26], According to a report published by Bulgarian investigative reporting site Bird, Ignatova was murdered in November 2018 on the orders of a Bulgarian drug lord, Hristoforos Amanatidis, also known as "Taki". "So we need you to build a blockchain," he went on. The smallest package cost 140, but they went all the way up to 118,000. "We believe consumers should be wary of dealing with OneCoin," it said. He doesn't seem certain it's a good idea. Bjorn Bjercke is a blockchain expert and he was the first person who started speaking publicly against OneCoin. OneCoin has always denied wrongdoing. Dr Ruja Ignatova has been charged with wire fraud, security fraud and money laundering, by the US authorities By Jamie Bartlett Presenter, The Missing Cryptoqueen In June 2016, Dr Ruja. "Oh, hey presto, they haven't filed a person with significant control. She feels guilty towards those who she introduced to OneCoin, she says, but also towards her late father, a miner, who worked hard all his life in horrible conditions, and left her the money that she then gave away. [25] The FBI followed up with an episode of its podcast and YouTube series Inside the FBI devoted to Ignatova and the OneCoin case. Investors might not have understood the technology, but they could see her talking to huge audiences, or at the Economist conference. No other law enforcement bodies in attendance would confirm how the information got out. She doesn't speak English either, so I'm shocked to discover, as we sit and talk, that Daniel has never actually told his mother that the money is lost. [9] Ignatova emigrated to Germany with her family when she was ten years old, and spent part of her childhood in Schramberg in the state of Baden-Wrttemberg. On the same day he was arrested, the FBI declared OneCoin a fraudulent currency. At the age of 10, her family moved to Germany. the FBI added Ruja Ignatova to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, The Missing Cryptoqueen: The Billion Dollar Cryptocurrency Con and the Woman Who Got Away With It, Cryptoqueen: How this woman scammed the world, then vanished, The life and crimes of Ruja Ignatova, new to FBI's 10 Most Wanted Ruja Ignatova, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/30/fbi-adds-cryptoqueen-to-ten-most-wanted-fugitives-list-for-fraud.htm, 'Cryptoqueen' Ruja Ignatova added to FBI's top ten most wanted list. One spring day a few months earlier, Jen McAdam received a message from a friend about an unmissable investment opportunity. For several months, a French journalist called Maxime Grimbert tried to unpick OneCoin's corporate workings, collecting as many company names and bank account details as he could. Europol told the BBC it was looking into the matter, adding: "This complex scenario with many stakeholders makes it difficult to assess where and how such an incident might have occurred.". The FBI did not comment on the Europol documents, but Special Agent Paul Roberts told the podcast: "There were investigations all around the world into her, and into OneCoin generally, many of which she had become aware of due to actions by law enforcement in other countries.". "You're in at such an early stage and it's just going to go like Bitcoin. He points out that he spent millions buying OneCoin, possibly more than anyone else. "I've never told her directly that it's not going to work - that there is no more money, there's no more hope," he tells me. 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