This 'Cryptoqueen' scammed investors out of $4 billion, the FBI says. Then she boarded a plane......

[marmar]

This ‘Cryptoqueen’ scammed investors out of $4 billion, the FBI says. Then she boarded a plane and disappeared


CNN — Ruja Ignatova strode onto the stage in a flowing burgundy ball gown adorned with black sparkles. Beams of light flashed, fireballs erupted and Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” blared through the speakers.

“Looks like a girl, but she’s a flame. So bright, she can burn your eyes – better look the other way,” the song crooned as a beaming Ignatova thanked the cheering crowd at London’s Wembley Arena.

That was in June 2016, when cryptocurrency was an emerging buzzword and investors were scrambling to cash in. Ignatova called herself the “Cryptoqueen” and touted her company, OneCoin, as a lucrative rival to Bitcoin in the growing cryptocurrency market.

“In two years, nobody will speak about Bitcoin anymore,” she said, as investors applauded and whistled.

Sixteen months later, Ignatova boarded a plane in Sofia, Bulgaria, and vanished. She hasn’t been seen since. ................(more)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/22/business/ruja-ignatova-cryptoqueen-fbi-most-wanted-cec/index.html

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

But court documents detail a mind-blowing narrative: how Ignatova and her OneCoin co-founder, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, were allegedly aware from the start that their ambitious venture was a Ponzi scheme.

“The cryptocurrency OneCoin was established for the sole purpose of defrauding investors,” IRS Special Agent John R. Tafur said in a statement.

While Greenwood and Ignatova were working on the concept for OneCoin, they referred to it in emails as a “trashy coin,” federal officials said in court documents. The documents show Greenwood described their investors as “idiots” and “crazy” in an email to Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov, who also took part in the scam and assumed OneCoin leadership after his sister vanished, according to prosecutors.

“It might not be (something) really clean or that I normally work on or even can be proud of (except with you in private when we make the money),” Ignatova wrote to Greenwood in 2014.

She also proposed an exit strategy should the company fail, saying in a 2014 email to Greenwood that they should “take the money and run and blame somebody else for this.”

[2naSalit]

3. So far...

It's worked for her. As long as she doesn't get cocky like that Tate guy, she will probably get away with it. The testosterone factor is in her favor here.

[dalton99a]

9. +1. She is a smart crook who knows how to manipulate people.

She is probably living in extravagant luxury under an assumed name, and protected by loyal bodyguards and corrupt politicians

[Vinca]

2. Does she bear any resemblance to George Santos? LOL.

[2naSalit]

4. DUzy!!

[stopdiggin]

5. this is purest speculation

but I think it's a know fact that there was always an element of dark web, organized crime, money laundering from the very inception of the cryptocurrency thing. (it was actually part of the attraction) And, there are certainly elements within these spheres that do not take kindly at all - to being ripped off. Some of these individuals may not be seen again ...

[Justice matters.]

6. I thing the guy who invented the first crypto repudiated it after realizing...

the monster for endless crime sprees he created would be used to con gullible poor people.

[SunSeeker]

7. Like the guy who created the AR-15.

He created it for the military, not incel mass murderers. Alas...

[Eugene]

10. OneCoin and Ignatova have been implicated in terrorist financing.

Others have also wondered if she is dead.

[barbtries]

11. I had the same thought.

she ripped off a lot of people who have a lot of money. they might have ways to find her. she may have already been found. If she ever turns up we'll find out if this speculation is off the mark.

i hope she's having a lousy time wherever she is, but since she must be a sociopath, i have to assume that she's having the time of her life assuming she is indeed alive.

[WarGamer]

8. 2 possibilities...

She's living in a Dacha on the Black Sea...

Or she's buried in 17' of cement near the Black Sea.

[Jedi Guy]

12. I'll hedge my bet.

Buried in 17' feet of cement in some investor's dacha on the Black Sea.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Great Follow-up!

You & WarGamer played that nicely!