A Bulgarian woman dubbed the “Crypto Queen” after she raised billions of dollars in a fraudulent virtual currency scheme was placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list Thursday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation put up a $100,000 reward for Ruja Ignatova, who disappeared in Greece in October 2017 around the time US authorities filed a sealed indictment and warrant for her arrest.
The 42-year-old, who is also a German citizen, was behind one of the most notorious scams in the frequently treacherous world of crypto currencies.
In 2014 she launched OneCoin, ostensibly aiming to replace Bitcoin as the world’s leading virtual money.
Tapping a global network to market the coin to friends and family in exchange for their own payouts, she and co-conspirators pulled in at least $3.4 billion and possibly over $4 billion, according to court documents.
Officials said that OneCoin was not backed by any secured, independent blockchain-type technology as other crypto currencies are.
Instead, they said, it was a classic Ponzi scheme, in which early investors are encouraged to find others and then paid out by receipts from later investors.
“OneCoin claimed to have a private blockchain,” said FBI Special Agent Ronald Shimko in a statement.
“This is in contrast to other virtual currencies, which have a decentralized and public blockchain. In this case, investors were just asked to trust OneCoin,” he said.
Ignatova disappeared in 2017 as international investigators began to close in on her…
