The infamous Cryptoqueen, Dr. Ruja Ignatova, is once again in the sights of law enforcement as German police put her on the most wanted list in Europe today.
The 41-year-old fugitive stands accused of fraud and money laundering for her part in one of the biggest cryptocurrency scam projects ever: the OneCoin.
RED NOTICE: Ruja Ignatova, dubbed ‘the Cryptoqueen’, is #wanted by Germany @bka for fraud and money laundering. A reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of the co-founder of the alleged cryptocurrency ‘OneCoin’ in hiding since 2017. https://t.co/vz1hwxok9p pic.twitter.com/jvGb8pg6gz— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) May 11, 2022
Best know as the “Cryptoqueen”, Ruja Ignatova was one of the co-founders of OneCoin, a massive cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme which defrauded millions of investors worldwide of close to $16 billion.
Created in the early days of crypto back in 2014, OneCoin promised to be a “Bitcoin killer” and part of the global payment revolution.
Ruja Ignatova made global tours promoting OneCoin, inviting people to invest, purchase educational crypto trading courses, and earn commission for bringing in new investors.
Despite all the promises, the reality was far less enticing. For starters, OneCoin had no actual blockchain on which to operate, meaning that the coin was not actively traded, and was impossible to use for purchases as there was no payment system around it.
At the peak of its activity, OneCoin claimed to have more than three million members worldwide.
In 2016, numerous countries started to suspect OneCoin of being a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme, better known as a pyramid scheme.
As a wave of investigations arose worldwide, Ruja Ignatova mysteriously vanished, and the self-proclaimed “Cryptoqueen” has not been seen in public since October 2017.
Her partners, and OneCoin co-founders, Mark Scott and Konstantin Ignatov, the brother of Cryptoqueen, were arrested by U.S. Federal officers months later, and have both been charged of wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.
With Europol’s decision to add Ruja Ignatova to Europe’s most wanted list, it seems that the global search for the Cryptoqueen is expanding. Law enforcement agencies have even offered rewards of up to 5,000 EUR for any individuals who may have information leading to the arrest of the crypto scam legend.