US State Department Unveils $5M Bounty For OneCoin Scam Mastermind

The search for Ruja Ignatova of OneCoin just got a new twist with a $5 million bounty now hanging over her head.

OneCoin Scam Wipes Out $4B From Investors

The Department of State has announced a reward of $5 million for anyone who can reveal the whereabouts or any information that could lead to the arrest of German national Ruja Ignatova. She remains wanted in the United States for her participation in one of the largest global fraud schemes in history. Packaged through the OneCoin platform, the fraud led to the loss of over $4 billion in investors’ funds.

Ignatova, the self-acclaimed “Cryptoqueen” was part of the team that founded OneCoin in 2014. From that time till around 2017, they defrauded many investors of billions of dollars. OneCoin involved a group of promoters whose sole responsibility was to solicit investments from investors in return for purported tokens. However, the project did not actually involve any cryptocurrencies nor did it exist on any blockchain. Rather, Ignatova and her team manipulated OneCoin’s perceived value through the automatic generation of new coins.

Precisely, Ignatova touted OneCoin as a digital currency investment, giving false statements and representations to attract unsuspecting investors. By 2017 when their illegal scheme was discovered, investors had lost over $4 billion. Since then, the authorities have tried to bring her and her cohort to book. So far, a number of those involved have been arrested and convicted.

Arrests Made in Connection With OneCoin Scam

Last year, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, one of OneCoin’s co-founders was sentenced to 20 years in jail for the role he played in the scam.

Prior to his arrest, Greenwood had used a significant part of his profit to purchase properties in Spain, Dubai and Thailand. Mark Scott, a former lawyer who was also linked to the $4 billion scam, was sentenced to 10 years in prison at the beginning of the year. The verdict was passed by Judge Edgardo Ramos of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Scott was instrumental in laundering millions for OneCoin by setting up fake investment funds to move the illicit proceeds. For his service, Scott received over $50 million which he later lavished on luxury cars, a yacht, and high-end real estate. Similarly, Irina Dilkinska, the ex-head of Legal and Compliance at OneCoin bagged a 4-year jail term

The new bounty on Ignatova is a significant boost to the 250,000 previously offered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Until now, Ignatova is on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and authorities has no idea where she is hiding.

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