July 4, 2022 · less than 3 min read
The self-proclaimed Cryptoqueen, Dr. Ruja Ignatova, has made it to the FBI’s top ten most wanted fugitive list.
It’s time to surrender the crown
God won’t be saving this queen – as $100,000 is on offer for information leading to the arrest of Dr. Ruja Ignatova. The girl is popular; Europol also added her to Europe’s most wanted list last month. Ignatova is the founder of a cryptocurrency called OneCoin, which first launched in 2014. Since then, she’s apparently defrauded investors of more than $4 billion over three years.
This huge-scale fraud is similar to that international pyramid scheme that you’ve been ignoring in your DMs. Ignatova made false statements to solicit investments and had no blockchain securing transactions. Unlike Bitcoin, which is secured by a global network of miners who maintain a public ledger. The FBI now wants to hold her accountable, but where is the queen? Well, nobody knows.
Hunting down the fraudster
Dr. Ruja Ignatova is a seasoned professional in the criminal justice system, as she’s been in it for at least half a decade. First indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2017, the Southern District of New York later issued an arrest warrant.
You think that’s bad? In February 2018, a superseding indictment was issued, charging the queen with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, actual wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and actual securities fraud. Each count carries a sentence of up to 20 years. Yikes. In a press conference, the FBI’s assistant director in charge of the New York office, Mike Driscoll, said he was “confident” that they would find her. Watch out, queenie; they’re after your crown.
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