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New York — With One Coin German citizens accused of selling fake cryptocurrencies called and defrauding investors from $ 4 billion have been added to the FBI's list of 10 most wanted fugitives, U.S. officials said Thursday. rice field.
Ruja Ignatova, also known as the "Cryptoqueen," was charged in 2019 with eight charges, including wire fraud and securities fraud, for running Bulgaria-based OneCoin Ltd as a rat lecture. rice field. Her prosecution says she offered members a fee to seduce others to buy worthless cryptocurrencies.
"She used her enthusiastic speculation in her early days of cryptocurrency to perfectly time her plans," Manhattan said. Damian Williams, Supreme Federal Prosecutor, said.
Williams described Onecoin as "one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history."
Williams said she disappeared in late 2017 after Ignatova eavesdropped on an American boyfriend-owned apartment and learned that she was cooperating with an FBI investigation into Onecoin. Said. She boarded a plane from Bulgaria to Greece and he said she hadn't been seen since.
The FBI is offering a $ 100,000 bounty for information that could lead to the arrest of Ignatova, said Michael Driscol, assistant director of the FBI in New York.
Driscoll declined to comment on the lead about where Ignatova is. The agency will add the fugitive to the most wanted list if it believes the general public may be able to assist in tracking the suspect.
"She left with a huge amount of cash," Driscoll told reporters. "Money can buy a lot of friends, and I imagine she's using it."
Ignatova charged with former legal counsel Mark Scott The prosecutor said he had laundered about $ 400 million for OneCoin. Scott was convicted of a money laundering plot and a bank fraud plot after a three-week trial in federal court in Manhattan.
(Report by Luc Cohen in New York, edited by Noeleen Walder)
