Ruja Ignatova, founder of OneCoin and sometimes referenced as the Cryptoqueen, is in the news again – this time for joining a very exclusive club – the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
Ignatova is accused of having defrauded investors out of $4 billion via her company OneCoin Ltd., making her one of the largest single crypto fraudsters ever – and there have been a good number of them.
At one point, the Department of Justice claimed that between the fourth quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2016 alone, OneCoin generated €3.353 billion in sales revenue and earned “profits” of €2.232 billion. OneCoin apparently claimed that ite was mining the crypto with the value rising to €29.95 per coin, as of January 2019.
Justice stated that the value of OneCoin was determined internally and not based on market supply and demand; and OneCoins were not mined using computer resources at all. The mission was to always defraud investors. In one email between the two siblings, they described their thoughts on the “exit strategy” for OneCoin as “take the money and run and blame someone else for this . . . .”
Ignatova guided OneCoin, a Bulgarian company from around 2014 to 2017 – the height of the initial coin offering rage. In October 2017, Ignatova was charged with fraud, and a federal warrant was issued for her arrest.
Ignatova, who is around 43 right now, has since been on the lam apparently with all or some of her ill gotten gains. The FBI states that she is believed to travel with “armed guards and/or associates.” Additionally, she may have had plastic surgery etc. to alter her appearance. She was not alone in her plot, her younger brother Konstantin Ignatov aided the scheme. He was arrested in Los Angeles in 2019.
If you know where she may be hiding, the FBI is offering a reward of $100,000.
Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, shared a comment on Ignatova’s rise in notoriety stating there is a lot of pressure to appear tought on crypto fraud as Europe moves forward with its crypto regulation (MiCA) and the US has bi-partisan legislation to regulate digital assets in the queue.
“Bureaucrats want to make sure that they’re seen as tough on market manipulation. Taking down the Cryptoqueen would be a good start,” said Gardner. “High profile arrests present a good image to the public, one that is proactive. And, they can deter crime, if the penalties are substantial. Unfortunately, if you think back to the BitMex founders, they were fined $10 million. That’s little more than a slap on the risk. Now, they have another chance with [the] Cryptoqueen.”.
Gardner added that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
“The best long-term solution is a well-thought out regulatory guidebook, which exchange operators and other industry players can utilize to make crypto safer. That’s what will make it harder for hackers and other fraudsters, like Ignatova, to create malfeasance in the future. It is time for government to come together with the industry, safeguard investors, and allow the digital assets space to truly thrive.”