Despite several reports of Ruja Ignatova’s death, the United States Department of State has said her case is not closed yet. On Wednesday, the agency announced that it had raised the bounty for information leading to the arrest of Ruja, popularly known as “Cryptoqueen,” to $5 million.
It is still unclear why the Department of State increased the reward. Notably, the bounty on Ruja was initially set at $100,000 in late 2018. However, as the mission to arrest and prosecute her became more challenging, law enforcement continued to increase the reward.
The OneCoin Scam
Cryptoqueen has been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List since June 2022. She is accused of robbing thousands of investors through her crypto project called OneCoin. Launched in 2014, OneCoin was a cryptocurrency touted as the “Bitcoin killer” by its creators. However, it was discovered that the project was a Ponzi Scheme capitalizing on the hype around Bitcoin to rob investors.
Three years after its launch, OneCoin collapsed, with investors collectively losing over $4 million. Since then, Ruja has been seen only once while at the airport traveling to Greece. The FBI claims that the Cryptoqueen left Greece in 2019 and traveled to Russia or the United Arab Emirates using a German passport.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Ruja with several charges, including conspiracy to commit money laundering, securities fraud, and wire fraud.
The Search for Cryptoqueen hit a massive hurdle last year after Bulgarian authorities reported that the alleged scammer had been killed in late 2019 by a drug lord she paid for her protection.
BBC Alleges That Cryptoqueen Faked Her Death
In early June, news company BBC released a new podcast episode dubbed “The Missing Cryptoqueen,” in which it alleged that Ruja might have faked her death to convince investigators to close her case.
While the Cryptoqueen’s whereabouts remain unknown, other individuals who were involved in the OneCoin Ponzi scheme have pleaded guilty to charges brought against them. They include OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood and former OneCoin’s Head of Legal and Compliance, Irian Dilkinska.
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