Uncle Sam has put a $5 million bounty on any information leading to the arrest or conviction of self-titled "CryptoQueen" Ruja Ignatova, who is wanted in the US for apparently bilking victims out of more than $4 billion in what the Feds describe as the "one of the largest global fraud schemes in history."

In 2014, Ignatova and Karl Sebastian Greenwood co-founded the "Bitcoin-killer" OneCoin in Sofia, Bulgaria. The two, along with Ignatova's younger brother, Konstantin promoted OneCoin as a legitimate digital currency operation.

"To promote OneCoin, Ruja organized glamorous parties, funded international company events in Dubai, Macao, Singapore, and the UK; and, according to some sources, even invited Tom Jones to perform at her birthday party in London," according to court documents

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. "In the year following the creation of OneCoin, Ruja and her peers bought millions of dollars' worth of real estate across the world."

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In reality, according to one of these investors who [3]sued the trio in 2019, the operation was a $4 billion "Ponzi scheme" for an initial coin offering that "never really existed, on a blockchain that never really existed, born from mining farms that never really existed."

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In October 2017, Ignatova was indicted by a grand jury in New York and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Two weeks later, she hopped on a plane from Sofia, Bulgaria to Athens, Greece to evade arrest, and hasn't been seen since. A [6]BBC podcast speculates that she may have had plastic surgery and is living incognito in Europe.

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The FBI's wanted poster for Ignatova ... Note, her appearance may have changed

In February 2018, a superseding indictment

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added charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud to Ignatova's crimes, and in 2022 she was [9]added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List.

Germany has also criminally charged Ignatova for her role in the scheme.

[10]CryptoQueen on the run from Feds, lawsuit after her OneCoin slammed as 'an old-school pyramid scheme on a new-school platform'

[11]OneCoin co-founder pleads guilty to $4 billion fraud

[12]Crypto scammers circle back, pose as lawyers, steal an extra $10M in truly devious plan

[13]Fiend touts stolen Neiman Marcus customer info for $150K

Konstantin was [14]arrested in 2019 at the Los Angeles International Airport, and Greenwood [15]pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court in 2022 to charges of conspiring to defraud investors and to launder money.

Ignatova remains at large.

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The reward of up to $5 million for information about her whereabouts, leading to her arrest, is offered through the US Department of State's [17]Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program .

Anyone with information about Ignatova can contact the FBI via Telegram: @RujaReward, Signal: @RujaReward.01, online at tips.fbi.gov or via the local FBI office. Those living outside of America with any tips or sightings are urged to visit the nearest US Embassy or Consulate. ®

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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/06/26/christine_grablis_onecoin_lawsuit.pdf

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZnyPiKuKoJTTxmgqu3RQqQAAA00&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://www.theregister.com/2019/05/08/onecoin_fraud_lawsuit/

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZnyPiKuKoJTTxmgqu3RQqQAAA00&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZnyPiKuKoJTTxmgqu3RQqQAAA00&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07nkd84

[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/06/26/ignatova.jpg

[8] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/06/26/ruja_ignatova_grand_jury_indictment.pdf

[9] https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/ruja-ignatova

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2019/05/08/onecoin_fraud_lawsuit/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/20/crypto_ponzi_scheme_cofounder_pleads/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/25/predators_steal_additional_10m/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/25/neiman_marcus_snowflake_victim/

[14] https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-charges-against-leaders-onecoin-multibillion-dollar

[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/20/crypto_ponzi_scheme_cofounder_pleads/

[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZnyPiKuKoJTTxmgqu3RQqQAAA00&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[17] https://www.state.gov/transnational-organized-crime-rewards-program-2/

[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/