The US Federal Police FBI has placed Ruja Ignatova, the inventor of the alleged digital currency “OneCoin”, notorious as the “queen of cryptocurrencies”, on the list of the ten most wanted fugitives. Ignatova is said to have defrauded millions of investors around the world with “OneCoin”. The FBI yesterday (local time) offered a reward of up to $100,000 (about €96,000) for information leading to her arrest.
The FBI believes that Ignatova and her associates defrauded victims worldwide out of billions of dollars. According to the FBI, around 2014, Ignatova and her partner founded OneCoin in Bulgaria, which traded a virtual currency that never existed. The Bulgarian-born, who holds German citizenship, touted the project as a “bitcoin killer,” meaning it must compete with the world’s biggest cryptocurrency.
Ignatova made false claims and guarantees about OneCoin to encourage people to invest in OneCoin packages, he said. According to investigators, Ignatova and her partner also promoted OneCoin through a multi-level marketing strategy that encouraged OneCoin investors to sell additional packages to friends and family.