CoinVoice has recently learned, according to Decrypt, that missing 'Crypto Queen' Ruja Ignatova may be hiding in Russia to evade criminal charges, as reported by a BBC investigative journalist focused on Kremlin affairs. Yoran Tsalov, who also works for Bellingcat, revealed to the media that Ignatova 'has connections to multiple individuals and interest groups within the Kremlin.'
Tsalov claims that these connections were confirmed during an interview with Ignatova's former security advisor Frank Schneider, which was part of the BBC's 'The Missing Crypto Queen' investigation and podcast series. Schneider was a spy in Switzerland before he founded a private investigation company and was hired by OneCoin. He was placed under house arrest in France due to his association with the operation and later went on the run in 2023. Additionally, Tsalov claims that the ongoing BBC investigation confirms that some companies involved in laundering money through OneCoin are linked to Ukraine's former pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich, who is currently living in exile in Russia.
It is reported that OneCoin was launched in 2014, and Ignatova defrauded investors around the world through a $4 billion Ponzi scheme until the scheme collapsed in 2017, when she disappeared. She was last seen in 2017, when she was on a flight fleeing Bulgaria to Athens, Greece, and was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. [Original link]