FBI Puts $5 Million Bounty on Missing Cryptoqueen – “We’ll Probably Know Within Weeks If It Worked”

Lina Portman5 days ago

0 3 minutes read

In July 2022, Ruja Ignatova, the so-called “Cryptoqueen” behind a pyramid scheme called OneCoin, was placed on FBI Top 10 Most Wanted List. Ignatova, of Belgian origin, accused of having defrauded investors of billions, disappeared in 2017: the FBI believes that she was traveling with “armed guards” and that she “may have had cosmetic surgery”.

Believe it or not, the plastic surgery is perhaps the least sensational aspect of this story. OneCoin emerged in 2014 and was essentially a multi-level marketing scam with crypto at its core. The exchange was shut down in 2017, and following Ignatova’s disappearance, she was subsequently charged with eight felonies in 2019, including wire fraud and securities fraud. The FBI added her to its 2022 Most Wanted list with a $100,000 reward, then increased it to $250,000. Now, that reward has increased significantly: the question is why.

The reward for information leading to the arrest of Ruja Ignatova has been raised to $5 million (£4 million). The announcement follows the broadcast of a BBC World News documentary, The Case of the Missing Cryptoqueen: Dead or Alive, which exposed Ignatova's links to Bulgarian crime networks, investigated a mob boss who may be linked to her disappearance and raised the possibility that Ignatova may have been murdered.

Nonetheless, the FBI's pursuit of Ignatova continues, even if multiplying the reward twenty-fold feels a bit like a Hail Mary.

“We are offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of German national Ruja Ignatova, known as “Cryptoqueen,” for her role in the one of the greatest global frauds in history”, said Matthew Miller of the U.S. State Department..

Jamie Bartlett is the journalist behind the BBC podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen, a fascinating unraveling of Ignatova's story, and believes the reward is for those close to her who might still protect her.

“I always thought the initial reward ($100,000, later increased) was a carefully chosen number,” Bartlett writes on his Substack. “If Ruja were on the run, she would likely come into contact with various airport officials, port staff, chefs working on private yachts, salespeople. $100,000 wouldn't convince any serious criminal to turn her in, but it might be enough for various service workers who might cross its path.

“It doesn’t seem to have paid off. In the latest episode of The Missing Cryptoqueen, we looked at some of her connections to organized crime groups, and many people believe that if Dr. Ruja is still in hiding, it will be because of their protection. $100,000 wouldn't persuade a low-ranking member of a crime syndicate or a personal bodyguard to call the FBI hotline – it's far too risky. But $5 million could.

“To me, this larger reward is a sign that the FBI is now refocusing its efforts on the people around Dr. Ruja, trying to get his loved ones to contact him. We'll probably know within a few weeks whether that worked.”

OneCoin was one of those schemes where people earned commissions for getting others to become “investors” and convincing them to get their family and friends to do the same – a pretty simple pyramid scheme, in other words – and the money lost to the scam is estimated at $4.5 billion. Ignatova was the key factor in OneCoin’s growth: multilingual, highly educated, fabulously dressed and capable of securing huge investments.

Ignatova is currently the only woman on the FBI's most wanted list. The FBI will also offer a $5 million reward for the two men, including Daniel Kinahan, who is believed to be the head of one of Europe's largest drug cartels; Semion Mogilevich, a Russian mafia boss; and Yulan Adonay Archaga Carias, a member of the Honduran MS-13 crime gang, also known as “Porky.”