Is Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova still alive? U.S. government increases reward to $5 million

The U.S. authorities has elevated the reward for data on the whereabouts of OneCoin co-founder Ruja Ignatova to $5 million.

in response to a Officially released A spokesperson for the U.S. State Division and the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria collectively introduced that anybody who gives data resulting in the arrest or conviction of Ignatova, generally often known as Cryptoqueen, will obtain a $5 million reward.

This new reward quantity is a major enhance from the $250,000 reward beforehand introduced by the FBI and has fueled hypothesis in regards to the veracity of rumors that Cryptoqueen was murdered in 2018.

US awards Cryptoqueen $5 million

Cryptoqueen is needed in the USA for masterminding one of many largest transnational fraud schemes in historical past. Though a few of her co-conspirators have arrested and Sentenced Based mostly on their crimes, she has been on the FBI’s Ten Most Needed Fugitives listing since 2022.

The 44-year-old German citizen born in Bulgaria co-founded OneCoin in 2014 and promoted the undertaking as a cryptocurrency funding by way of false statements and representations. As of 2017, Cryptoqueen has used Ponzi schemes to defraud traders of greater than $4 billion.

When investigators hunted Ignatova in late 2017, she fled from Bulgaria to Greece to evade arrest and has been a fugitive ever since. U.S. and German authorities have filed fraud and cash laundering fees in opposition to Onecoin’s creators. Bulgarian authorities additionally intend to quickly prosecute Ignatova for the crime and provoke proceedings to confiscate her illegally acquired property.

Dying or life?

Because the hunt for Cryptoqueen continues, there are rumors that she could have altered her look by way of cosmetic surgery. She can also be believed to have moved with armed safety guards and colleagues. The FBI believes she could have used a German passport to go to nations together with the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Jap Europe.

There have been rumors final yr Appeared Cryptoqueen was murdered by Bulgarian drug lord Hristoforos Amanatidis, higher often known as Taki, who was additionally liable for her safety . Sources say Taki ordered a hitman to dismember Ignatova and throw her physique into the Ionian Sea in an try to shed his connection to the OneCoin fraud.

Nonetheless, the BBC crew behind The Lacking Cryptoqueen podcast has received Stories about Cryptoqueen’s whereabouts have continued to floor since 2018, and after Greek police didn’t arrest her in 2022, rumors surrounding her dying could have been a ploy to deceive the nation’s authorities.