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- The whereabouts of “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova are still unknown
- The charges against OneCoin members are starting to pile up
- Ignatova’s last known location was in Athens, Greece
A German court has indicted three associates of OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova, also known as the “Cryptoqueen,” on charges of fraud, money laundering, and banking crimes.
A Munich-based lawyer associated with Ignatova is alleged to have transferred $19.7 million via the Cayman Islands on her behalf to purchase two London apartments, making an appearance in court on October 18.
According to a Bloomberg report, a husband and wife are also facing charges for allegedly handling payments from OneCoin customers worth $315.4 million.
In 2014, under the guise of a cryptocurrency and trading project, Ignatova launched OneCoin. However, enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asserted that it was quickly discovered to be a pyramid scheme that lured users in with fictitious technical and business claims that were false, such as a token mining structure that did not exist.
Ignatova’s whereabouts have been unknown since 2017
The project, according to the FBI, defrauded more than 3 million investors out of approximately $4 billion. Prosecutors in the German court noted that in reality, the ever-increasing value was a hoax, and the software only simulated the mining process.
Since 2017, Ignatova’s whereabouts have been unknown;Her last known location was Athens, Greece, according to reports. She was added to the FBI’s top ten most wanted list in June, and the agency offered $100,000 in exchange for information leading to her arrest.Economist and crypto advocate Angelina Lazar has also accused her company of bribing presidents in Serbia and Bulgaria, in addition to being wanted for fraud totaling over $4 billion.
The latest action taken by prosecutors against another alleged accomplice, Christoper Hamilton, who is accused of laundering $105 million through the scheme in 2014, includes the three OneCoin figures.
The extradition process for Hamilton to face changes in the United States was approved by a judge in the United Kingdom in August 2021, and it was reported that he was extradited at the beginning of September.
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Ignatova is wanted for over $4 billion worth of fraud
At one point, Cryptoqueen’s brother Konstantin Ignatov took over OneCoin. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to a number of charges related to money laundering and fraud, and two of his associates were the subject of a class-action lawsuit that went to trial in March 2020.
The case of the missing Cryptoqueen has remained a topic of intense interest up to this point, and journalist and author Jamie Bartlett runs a well-liked podcast about it on the BBC. There have been 11 episodes of the podcast so far.
In addition, in June, Bartlett published a book titled The Missing Cryptoqueen: At the Red Line Festival in South Dublin on October 16, The Billion Dollar Cryptocurrency Con and the Woman Who Got Away with It hosted a public discussion on the book.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
