How did the Crypto Queen of OneCoin evade arrest for 7 years?

In life and in "death", Ruja Ignatova continues to baffle many. The founder of OneCoin, also known as the "Crypto Queen", disappeared without a trace around this time in 2017, with no sightings or sounds of her since then.

Ignatova is the only woman on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. This Bulgarian woman is believed to be in her forties and is wanted for her role in OneCoin, the cryptocurrency scam she co-founded in September 2014.

The FBI alleges that Ignatova defrauded OneCoin participants of $4.5 billion. The scheme had all the elements of a Ponzi. It used network marketing and commissions to gain popularity. People who referred new buyers to the platform received commissions.

The Crypto Queen "fooled" investigators

Seven years after the month when Ignatova was last heard from, the chances of finding her seem very slim as she continues to evade capture. There are several hypotheses about the current location of the Crypto Queen.

A hypothesis suggests that they live luxuriously in Dubai or somewhere in Southeast Asia, possibly in Thailand. This was hinted at in a special BBC podcast released by Jamie Bartlett in October 2022.

At that moment, the BBC had obtained documents showing that Ignatova had worked with Sheikh Faisal bin Sultan Al Qassimi, a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates (EAU), to unfreeze funds suspected of being involved in money laundering.

According to the podcast, it is said that Ignatova bought a villa for $20 million in the UAE, where she may have been hiding for over half a decade.

The BBC also discovered that he had secured a multimillion-dollar deal with Emirati Sheikh Saoud, a well-known cryptocurrency enthusiast. In 2015, he allegedly sold 230,000 Bitcoins worth $22.5 billion at current prices to Ignatova. At that time, BTC was valued at nearly $48 million.

There are suggestions that Ignatova purchased intelligence from the Bulgarian police. Observers say this could explain why she has evaded investigators for the past seven years, according to the BBC.

The "murder" is the worst crime

Another hypothesis suggests that Queen Crypto was assassinated on the orders of a dangerous Bulgarian drug trafficker whom she hired for her protection, according to a BBC investigation published in June of this year.

The accomplices of Ignatova's mafia bodyguard, Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, believe that he killed her due to the unwanted attention that her case brought him, according to the report.

According to the BBC, Queen Crypto was paying Amanatidis, a drug dealer allegedly linked to murders and armed robberies, about $100,000 a month for protection. Amanatidis is also known by the nickname "Taki."

Dimitar Stoyanov, a Bulgarian investigative journalist who was the first to report on this murder with colleagues in 2022, shared with the broadcaster:

"Some people have to be eliminated because they know too much about Taki. It's a kind of public execution that seems more like a statement. Be careful with those you trade with."

A 2022 report by Stoyanov for the news agency Bird.bg mentioned a police report obtained from the home of a Bulgarian police officer who was murdered in 2022.

The report details the account of an informant to the police about Taki's drunken brother-in-law claiming that Ignatova was murdered on Taki's orders at the end of 2018. The report also states that after this alleged murder, Ignatova's body was dismembered and thrown from a yacht in the Ionian Sea.

Bulgarian officials confirmed the authenticity of the police document to the BBC. Bird's reporter, Stoyanov, pointed out the high probability of the story, but also mentioned that this report could have been planted to prevent agencies from worrying about the whereabouts of Queen Crypto.

A close ally of Taki named Krasimir Kamenov allegedly informed the CIA in 2022 about Taki and his involvement in the murder of Ignatova. A year later, he was murdered in Cape Town, South Africa, along with his wife and two associates, an incident also linked to Taki.

Ignatova's body has never been found, and Taki, whom the EU law enforcement agency Europol suspects used OneCoin's financial network to launder drug money, has never been arrested for the alleged murder.

In fact, another perspective speculates that both Taki and Ignatova are living in Dubai. Sources told the BBC that the two have a close personal relationship and Taki is the godfather of Ignatova's daughter.

Ruja Ignatova could currently be a man

In November 2022, TradingPedia speculated that the Crypto Queen had changed her gender to avoid attention, according to another hypothesis.

The platform has published a catalog of eight faces that Ignatova may have used as part of her strategy to evade law enforcement. A sketch suggests that she could currently be a man, with short hair and a beard.

It is difficult to formulate which theory is the most accurate. However, some people do not rule out the possibility that Ignatova is still alive.

Brian McColl, an analyst at TradingPedia who is leading the research on Ignatova, previously stated that the fact that she is wanted by the FBI and Europol indicates that these agencies believe the scammer is still alive.

German police: "There is no murder. She is still alive."

This opinion is backed by the German authorities. According to a report published by the German newspaper Der Spiegel earlier this month, Ignatova may still be alive and residing in a wealthy area of Cape Town, South Africa, under the strict protection of private security firms.

Reports indicate that the German police found inconsistencies in the evidence against Taki, the former head of security for Ignatova. German authorities have been investigating the OneCoin fraud and Ignatova for years. Ignatova also holds German citizenship.

The police dismiss the theory of Ignatova's death, pointing to evidence that her alleged killer was in custody in the Netherlands when the supposed "murder" took place. Details will be revealed in an upcoming documentary.

According to a report from Der Spiegel, Sabine Dässel, spokesperson for the LKA Düsseldorf criminal investigation unit in Germany, stated:

"We believe or work under the hypothesis that Ruja Ignatova is still alive. This is also supported by the reactions of her family, with whom Ignatova has always maintained close contact. The daughter and sister are not mourned by family members, so it is clear that there is no information about Ruja Ignatova's death within the family. There is no murder. She is still alive, period."

Dässel added that the police had received information suggesting that Ignatova was hiding in Cape Town. The German filmmaker Johan von Mirbach, who is making a documentary about Ignatova, stated that his team received information about her whereabouts from South African security sources.

The police also relies on the testimony of former OneCoin employee Duncan Arthur, who denies the accusations regarding Ignatova's death. Arthur claims that Ignatova kept in contact with her brother Konstantin long after the date when she was allegedly murdered, Der Spiegel reported.

Better than Bitcoin

Ruja Ignatova lured millions of unsuspecting investors by promoting OneCoin as an alternative to Bitcoin that would reward early adopters. This Oxford graduate sold a Ponzi scheme without using a public digital ledger like legitimate cryptocurrencies.

Three years after the launch of OneCoin in 2014, the Crypto Queen fled from Sofia to Athens as U.S. and German authorities moved to dismantle her pyramid scheme. Since then, she has been off the radar, although her accomplices continue to be arrested and extradited.

The FBI is offering a reward of $5 million for anyone with information leading to his arrest. Ignatova is a criminal mastermind. A mystery.