The FBI has placed OneCoin creator Ruja Ignatova aka “Crypto Queen” on its Top 10 Most Wanted list for allegedly defrauding investors out of $4 billion.
The FBI in New York, in collaboration with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the IRS Criminal Investigation Newark Field Office, took this action.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation also offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to her capture.
According to investigators, Ignatova is suspected of being involved in a large-scale fraudulent operation.
Ignatova and others are thought to have started defrauding investors around 2014. The monetary stakes are estimated to be in the billions of dollars.
She was the driving force behind the project that would later be known as OneCoin Ltd., which was based in Bulgaria and promoted a cryptocurrency-like product.
To put the plan into action, Ignatova allegedly engaged in deceptive behavior toward people by making false claims and representations about OneCoin investment opportunities to them.
Ignatova allegedly urged victims to transfer investment funds to OneCoin accounts in order to obtain OneCoin packages, causing victims to send wire transfers reflecting their investments.
She is accused of fraud. Throughout the conspiracy, it is suspected that victims lost more than $4 billion as a result of OneCoin’s fraud. Ignatova served as OneCoin’s CEO until October 2017, when she stepped down.
Ignatova was arrested in the United States in March 2019 for allegedly running a pyramid scheme.
A former investor sued the OneCoin founder in May of the same year for an alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud. The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) declared the OneCoin founder wanted in Europe in May 2022 for fraud and money laundering.
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