Up to 90 years for the Ponzi scheme. 16 months' suspended imprisonment for a previous case.
Added
30 June 2022
Number
527
Currently a Top Ten Fugitive
Ruja Plamenova Ignatova (Bulgarian: Ружа Пламенова Игнатова, romanized: Ruža Plamenova Ignatova, occasionally transliterated as "Ruga Ignatova"; born 30 May 1980)[2] is a Bulgarian-born German entrepreneur best known as the founder of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme known as OneCoin, which The Times 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 and the 2022 book of the same name.[6][7]
Since 2017, Ignatova has been on the run from various international law enforcement agencies, with the FBI offering up to five million dollars for any information leading to her arrest. 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][8] Ignatova is the subject of an Interpol warrant issued by German authorities.[9]
Reporting in 2023 and 2024 suggested that Ignatova may have been murdered in 2018 on the orders of Bulgarian organised crime figure "Taki" Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, who is suspected of initially sheltering her.[10][11]
^Bartlett, Jamie (June 7, 2022). The Missing Cryptoqueen: The Billion Dollar Cryptocurrency Con and the Woman Who Got Away with It. New York: Hachette Books. ISBN978-0-306-82916-1.