According to TechFlow, on June 26, Coindesk reported that the U.S. State Department issued a reward of up to $5 million for clues about OneCoin founder "Crypto Queen" Ruja Ignatova. The reward belongs to the State Department's transnational organized crime reward program, replacing the previous $250,000 reward offered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Ruja Ignatova, who was listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list for her crypto Ponzi scheme, has been on the run since she disappeared in Athens in 2017. OneCoin defrauded investors around $4 billion worldwide through a promotional network that did not actually involve any blockchain technology. In addition to the indictment in absentia in Bulgaria, Ignatova also faces criminal charges in the United States, Germany, and India. Several former OneCoin associates have been sentenced, including co-founder Carl Greenwood, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $300 million, and lawyers Irina Dilkynska and Mark Scott, who were sentenced to four and 10 years in prison, respectively.
