The United States Department of State has increased its reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova.
In an update to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) “ten most wanted fugitives” list, the State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program said it was willing to offer a $5 million reward for information concerning Ignatova’s whereabouts that led to her arrest and conviction. The OneCoin founder’s last confirmed location was in Athens in October 2017.
The FBI added Ignatova to its top ten list in June 2022, offering a $100,000 reward. Officials increased that reward to $250,000 in 2023, but the OneCoin founder remained at large at the time of publication. The FBI reported she held a German passport and “may have had plastic surgery or otherwise altered her appearance.”
U.S. authorities charged Ignatova with fraud and money laundering in 2017 and issued a federal warrant for her arrest. In a June 26 joint statement with the U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria, H.E. Kenneth Merten, Bulgaria’s Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov said Ignatova would be charged in absentia in the country.
Related: OneCoin’s legal boss gets 4 years jail for massive $4B crypto scam
Founded in 2014, OneCoin was exposed as a fraudulent crypto scheme in 2015, defrauding investors out of roughly $4 billion. Several individuals have been criminally prosecuted in the U.S. for their involvement in the scheme, including Ignatova’s boyfriend Gilbert Armenta, lawyer Mark Scott, former head of legal and compliance Irina Dilkinska, co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood, and William Morro.
Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in 2019 related to his involvement in the OneCoin scheme. He spent 34 months in prison before being released in March 2024.
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