Investigators suggest fugitive “cryptoqueen” Ignatova is still alive

German investigators seem to believe that fugitive Ruja Ignatova, the alleged mastermind of the billion-dollar OneCoin scam, may still be alive.

The 44-year-old German citizen, who is on the FBI’s ten “most wanted” list, was previously thought to be dead.

Ignatova’s security officer, former Luxembourg ex-intelligence officer Frank Schneider, is also being sought after fleeing house arrest last year.

Ignatova, who has been labelled the “Cryptoqueen”, is alleged to have swindled millions of people who invested in what turned out to be a non-existent cryptocurrency called OneCoin.

In exchange for their “investment”, victims are alleged to have received worthless investment strategies and expensive financial management training in what was a comparatively simple pyramid scheme. The public prosecutor’s office in Bielefeld, Germany, estimates the number of victims worldwide at three million.

Ruja Ignatova, a 44-year-old German with Bulgarian roots, has been in hiding since 2018 © Photo credit: BKA

Ignatova, who has been labelled the “Cryptoqueen”, is alleged to have swindled millions of people who invested in what turned out to be a non-existent cryptocurrency called OneCoin.

In exchange for their “investment”, victims are alleged to have received worthless investment strategies and expensive financial management training in what was a comparatively simple pyramid scheme. The public prosecutor’s office in Bielefeld, Germany, estimates the number of victims worldwide at three million.

Ignatova has been missing without a trace since October 2017. She disappeared after taking a flight with a low-cost airline from Bulgaria to Athens.

Since the trail went cold, she was placed on the most wanted list accused of fraud and money laundering. The reward for information leading to her arrest has risen for the original $100,000 (€94,500) to $5 million (€4.7 million).

Evidence allegedly emerged in Bulgaria that Ignatova had been murdered by former accomplices from the Bulgarian underworld back in 2018 and that her body had been dismembered and dumped in the Ionian Sea.

However, research by broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk for the documentary series Die Kryptoqueen, seems to contradict that story.

The State Office of Criminal Investigation in Düsseldorf had examined the Bulgarian documents and established that the man who allegedly carried out the contract killing of Ignatova was actually in prison in the Netherlands at the time of Ignatova’s alleged killing.

The wanted poster for Ruja Ignatova promises a reward of up to $5 million  © Photo credit: FBI

“We are working with the hypothesis that Ruja Ignatova is still alive,” criminal investigation office spokeswoman Sabine Dässel said in the opening episode of the second season of the series, which was broadcast on WDR television on Wednesday evening. The fact that there were no signs of mourning within her family also suggests that Ignatova still being alive.

The documentary also quotes a former employee of Ignatova’s who said that the fugitive’s brother Konstantin regularly spoke to her on the phone even after her disappearance.

According to Dässel, investigators still do not know where the alleged cryptoscammer is hiding out. However, there are indications she may be in a heavily guarded neighbourhood in Cape Town, South Africa, which is home to many wealthy exiled Bulgarians.

Still no trace of Frank Schneider

Frank Schneider fled house arrest in France in 2023 © Photo credit: Lex Kleren

Former Luxembourg ex-intelligence officer Frank Schneider is also being sought by the authorities. He worked as a security officer for Ignatova and made an appearance in the first season of the WDR series. Back then he was wearing an electronic ankle tag while under house arrest in his home in Lorraine.

But in 2023, Schneider fled to avoid extradition to the USA, where he faces up to 40 years in prison. The American investigators accuse him of having warned accomplices of impending prosecutions, for which he is said to have used his prior knowledge as a spy. Schneider’s tracks lead to Dubai, Indonesia and New Zealand, where he bought and resold property from Lorraine.

Meanwhile, other associates of Ignatova have been convicted and some have already been released.

OneCoin co-founder Sebastian Greenwood is serving a 20-year prison sentence in the USA. Lawyer Marc Scott, who helped launder money on a grand scale, is serving ten years.

In January, three OneCoin accomplices, a married couple and a lawyer, were sentenced in Germany for aiding and abetting fraud, unauthorised payment services and money laundering.

And Ignatova’s brother Konstantin Ignatov, who pleaded guilty to continuing to run the OneCoin scam in a managerial capacity after her disappearance, is a free man again after spending three years in jail in the USA.

Before his conviction, but after Ruja’s disappearance, Konstantin was in Cape Town, a photo of which can be seen on his Instagram profile – an indication that confirms the German investigators’ theory as to Ignatova’s whereabouts.

Another Luxembourger with leading role

Luxembourger Pitt Arens was briefly CEO of OneCoin for around nine months in 2017. The company was already the subject of international investigations at the time, as the profits promised to investors were said to be unachievable. OneCoin was subsequently banned in Italy and Germany.

Pitt Arens was the CEO of OneCoin Ltd. from March to October 2017 © Photo credit: Screenshot Youtube / OneCoin Eagle

In response to the accusations that OneCoin was a Ponzi scheme, Arens told Luxemburger Wort at the time that he was “not personally affected by any ongoing investigations.”

According to Arens, many of the allegations were not true and he called them “negative propaganda”. Arens resigned in October 2017, saying that he did not have “enough room for manoeuvre” within the company.

(his article was first published in Luxemburger Wort. Translation, editing and adaptation by Duncan Roberts)