US offers $5 million reward to hunt down 'digital currency queen'

Mỹ treo thưởng 5 triệu USD truy lùng ‘nữ hoàng tiền kỹ thuật số’- Ảnh 1. — Suspect Ruja Ignatova

AFP news agency reported on June 26 that the US is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of Bulgarian suspect Ruja Ignatova, founder of the OneCoin digital currency.

US Ambassador to Bulgaria Kenneth Merten said that suspect Ignatova (44 years old) is wanted in the US and Germany "for participating in one of the largest global fraud schemes in history", defrauding victims of more than 4 billion USD.

Ms. Ignatova avoided arrest when she took a flight from Sofia (Bulgaria) to Athens (Greece) two weeks after the authorities issued an indictment in October 2017 and her whereabouts remain unknown.

The suspect, a German national, is accused of being the mastermind of the OneCoin cryptocurrency scam. In 2022, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation placed him on its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Ambassador Merten said the US will issue a statement explaining how people can anonymously provide information to assist the investigation.

According to the indictment, Ms. Ignatova launched OneCoin in Sofia in 2014, with the initial intention of pocketing some of the money her customers put into the platform. In fact, after joining the scheme, customers were largely unable to get their money back.

Instead, OneCoin offered additional credits to those who recruited others, which helped the company grow rapidly, scamming investors from countries ranging from China to the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Bulgaria is also planning to charge her in absentia, allowing proceedings to seize assets worth more than 10 million euros, according to prosecutor general Borislav Sarafov.

Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov, who replaced her as OneCoin’s leader, was arrested in Los Angeles in 2019. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 34 months in prison, but was released in March.

OneCoin co-founder Sebastian Greenwood was extradited from Thailand and sentenced to 20 years in prison in the US last year.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/my-treo-thuong-5-trieu-usd-truy-lung-nu-hoang-tien-ky-thuat-so-185240626221659777.htm