CNN —
Ruja Ignatova arrived on stage in a 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 – you’d better look on the other side.” the song played A smiling Ignatova thanked the cheering crowd at London’s Wembley Arena.
that was in june 2016, when cryptocurrency was a booming buzzword and investors were scrambling to cash in. Ignatova calls herself a “cryptocrat” and touts her company, OneCoin, as an attractive competitor to bitcoin in the growing cryptocurrency market.
“In two years, no one will be talking about bitcoin anymore,” she said, as investors applauded and whistled.
Sixteen months later, Ignatova boarded a plane in Sofia, Bulgaria, and disappeared. She hasn’t been seen since.
Authorities say OneCoin was a pyramid scheme that defrauded people of more than $4 billion as Ignatova persuaded investors in the US and around the world to throw handfuls of cash at her company. Federal prosecutors describe OneCoin as one of the largest international fraud schemes ever.
He is now one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives with convictions Gang leaders and murderers, and is currently the only woman on that list. Of the 529 fugitives on the FBI’s list since it began in 1950, she is…
