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Bulgaria will press charges against a fugitive behind one of the largest crypto fraud schemes
Bulgaria said it plans to file charges in absentia against Ruja Ignatova for one of the largest crypto frauds in history and will take steps to seize her assets which the agency says were illegally acquired.
June 26, 2024, 9:58 am ET
• 2 minute read
SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgaria plans to file charges in absentia against Ruja Ignatova over one of the largest crypto fraud schemes in history and will take steps to seize her assets believed to have been acquired illegally, the chief prosecutor said Tuesday.
US Ambassador to Bulgaria Kenneth Merten, speaking at the same press conference, announced a new reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Ignatova’s arrest and supporting Bulgarian authorities in her arrest.
Ignatova’s whereabouts have been unknown since October 2017, when she traveled from Sofia to Athens after being charged in a New York court and a federal warrant issued for her arrest. She was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted list in June 2022.
Ignatova founded OneCoin in 2014 and tricked people into investing in the cryptocurrency trading company, which turned out to be a scam. Participants recruited others to purchase packages of OneCoin cryptocurrency.
According to authorities, the cryptocurrency-based Ponzi scheme brought in more than $4 billion to at least 3.5 million victims in the first two years.
Last September, Karl Sebastian Greenwood, a Swedish and British citizen who co-founded OneCoin with Ignatova, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the United States for his role in the scheme.