Ruja Plamenova Ignatova, commonly known as Ruja Ignatova or the Crypto Queen, is one of the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives in the world and an unravelled mystery before the world. She is a Bulgarian-German entrepreneur and a con artist who is the founder of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme called OneCoin.
The association with the massive fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme gave her an impeccable nickname: ‘The Crypto Queen’. According to the latest information, Ignatova has been missing since October 25, 2017, and the 2019 BBC podcast series named The Missing Cryptoqueen claims that she boarded a Ryan Air flight to Athens on that day, and no one has been identified or found her yet.
There are so many conspiracy theories and rumors that have been spreading around since her disappearance, some believing that Ignatova might have been killed, and some believe that she is alive and still running from international law enforcement agencies across the world.
Early Life and Education
Ruja Ignatova was born on May 30, 1980, in Bulgaria. She is the daughter of Plasmen and Veska, a working-class couple in Ruse, a major city in Bulgaria. Her father, Plasmen, was a mechanical engineer, and her mother, Veska, was a kindergarten teacher. Ignatova has a younger brother, Konstantin. Ignatova and her family were forced to emigrate to Germany after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. This political and physical boundary divided Europe into two separate areas after the Second World War. Ignatova was one of the best-performing students in his early days.
She is a scholarship holder from the University of Konstanz and one of the major student representatives for the Christian Democratic Union. She completed her graduation in 2005 with a PhD in private international law. She returned to Bulgaria after her education and spent the early days of her career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company’s Sofia branch.
Ruja Ignatova: A Dear Friend of Criminal Activities
The shady image Ignatova got through various criminal activities is the highlight of her profile. In 2012, Ignatova was convicted in Germany of bankruptcy fraud that was associated with her father, Plamen. He acquired a company, and the company’s bankruptcy declaration shortly after the acquisition created a doubtful scenario and put Ignatova in a shady position. Later, she was suspended and sentenced for 14 months.
A multilevel marketing scam called BigCoin was another criminal activity associated with Ruja Ignatova. She was part of this multilevel marketing scam in 2013, and it is considered one of the black marks of her career. 2014 was a notable year in her career. In 2014, she founded OneCoin, a fraudulent pyramid scheme inspired by the immense success of Bitcoin. Later, the same OneCoin she founded changed her whole life.
Ignatova’s One Coin: One of the biggest scams in history
Ruja Ignatova founded OneCoin, a pyramid scheme, in 2014. The project OneCoin was inspired by the success of Bitcoin. She claimed that her newly introduced OneCoin scheme was a luxury alternative to the world’s most precious cryptocurrency. Ignatova announced that OneCoin was simpler and safer than Bitcoin, and the potential investors just had to send money into OneCoin’s bank account to receive the digital token.
The pyramid structure of OneCoin attracted a large number of investors, and the project grew at an enhanced rate, but in reality, OneCoin was not a cryptocurrency at all. All the news spread about the coin was a lie, and the incremental price rally and other details they claimed turned out to be a planned manipulation.
A large number of wealthy investors were victims of this scam, and they reportedly lost a huge amount of money. Some investors in rural Uganda lost their homes, and the investors from Brazil, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Yemen, Canada, Palestine, and Norway were seriously affected by this OneCoin scam.
Ignatova planned to address the audience and investors of OneCoin on October 25, 2017, but that never happened, and she fled to Athens on Ryan Air Flight and has never faced the public ever since. After her missing, the BBC revealed her connection with the Bulgarian underworld and an individual associated with an organised crime gang. In 2019, her brother Konstantin Ignatov pleaded guilty to reportedly being involved in money laundering activities associated with the OneCoin scheme.
Also Read: Was Your Crypto Exposed? How to Check If You’re a Victim of the Coinbase Breach?
International Agencies in Search for Crypto Queen Ruja Ignatova!
Ignatova has been one of the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives in the world, and all the international agencies are still in search of her. Bulgaria’s Bureau of Investigative Reporting and Data stated that Krasmir Kamenov, a Bulgarian organised crime kingpin, was willing to help the United States investigation to find Ignatova, but he had died before reaching out to the investigation officials. In 2022, an investigation was conducted on a lawyer who allegedly laundered and transferred 7.69 million euros to Ignatova’s private account, which led to an apartment and office raid.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has officially added Ruja Ignatova to its ten most wanted fugitives in the world in 2022. Special Agent Paul Roberts stated in an interview that the agency’s investigation into Ignatova was operating under the assumption that she was still alive and that the agency had no information to counter that belief. The FBI reported that the United States Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program had been offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ruja Ignatova.