According to CryptoPotato, the US government has raised the reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of OneCoin co-founder Ruja Ignatova, also known as Cryptoqueen, to $5 million. This is a significant increase from the previous $250,000 reward offered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), sparking speculation about the truth behind rumors of Cryptoqueen's murder in 2018.
Cryptoqueen is wanted in the US for orchestrating one of the largest transnational fraud schemes in history. Despite some of her co-conspirators being apprehended and sentenced, she has been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List since 2022. The Bulgarian-born German citizen co-founded OneCoin in 2014, promoting it as a crypto investment through false statements and representations. By 2017, she had used the Ponzi scheme to defraud investors of over $4 billion. When investigators closed in on her in late 2017, Ignatova fled from Bulgaria to Greece and has been a fugitive ever since.
US and German authorities have charged the OneCoin creator with fraud and money laundering, and Bulgarian authorities also plan to indict Ignatova soon, beginning the process of confiscating her illegally obtained property. As the search for Cryptoqueen continues, rumors suggest she may have altered her appearance through cosmetic surgery and could be traveling with armed security guards and associates. The FBI believes she may be using a German passport to visit countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Eastern Europe.
In 2021, rumors circulated that Cryptoqueen had been murdered by Bulgarian drug lord Hristoforos Amanatidis, also known as Taki, who was reportedly in charge of her security. Sources claimed Taki ordered a hitman to dismember Ignatova and dispose of her remains in the Ionian sea to sever ties with the OneCoin fraud. However, the BBC team behind The Missing Cryptoqueen podcast has received tips about Cryptoqueen’s whereabouts since 2018, and after a failed police operation to apprehend her in Greece in 2022, it is possible that rumors of her death are a tactic to mislead authorities.