The FBI added Ruja Ignatova, a self-proclaimed ” Cryptoqueen’, to the list of the ten most wanted fugitives on Thursday and is offering a $100,000 reward for information that could lead to her arrest, according to CNBC. (1)
Ignatova, the founder of the cryptocurrency OneCoin that was launched in 2014, allegedly defrauded investors of more than $ 4 billion in three years before disappearing.
Investigators say the Bulgaria-based project did not have blockchain security transactions, and the coins were essentially “knocked out of the air.”
Instead, Bitcoin is secured by a global network of miners who keep a public register or blockchain. OneCoin, which Ignatova once claimed to have more than 3 million users worldwide, operated as a multilevel market network that paid members fees for recruiting others.
Ignatova has been in the American penal system for at least half a decade. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2017, and the New York Southern District subsequently issued an arrest warrant.
Regarding the location of Ignatova, the FBI mentioned in a press release that the founder of One Coin traveled from Bulgaria to Greece on October 25, 2017, but that he could have continued the journey from there.
The FBI asks that anyone with information about her whereabouts contact the bureau at tips.fbi.gov. (2)
