Ruja Ignatova, who calls herself the queen of cryptocurrencies, is now back in the spotlight, at least in part, as news of the sale of a luxury London penthouse grabs the headlines.
Ignatova introduced her company, OneCoin, as a lucrative competitor to bitcoin in the ever-expanding cryptocurrency space.
In June 2016, Bitcoin was an emerging trend and investors were eager to cash in on it. In October 2017, Ignatova completely disappeared from public view. At the time, the 42-year-old Bulgarian-born, German-citizen cryptocurrency entrepreneur was in the initial stages of a $4 billion Ponzi scheme.
OneCoin is a fake cryptocurrency whose founder, Ignatova, has been missing for five years and is currently on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. She is also one of the most sought after fugitives in Europe. When a luxury London penthouse is advertised for sale on the market, the "missing cryptocurrency queen" appears to be organizing an auction from underground.
A penthouse in the London borough of Kensington, England, was listed for $15.5 million before dropping to $13.6 million, according to sources.
Senior prosecutor Gerald Ruebsam predicts that funds from the sale of the London penthouse may one day be used to repay OneCoin victims. Knight Frank, a Prestige dealer for luxury real estate, had marketed the property but quickly pulled it after discovering Ignatova was associated with it.
Ignatova and her business partner, Sebastian Greenwood, are deceiving crypto enthusiasts by claiming that their cryptocurrency token, OneCoin, will be a “bitcoin killer.” In 2016, when investors were clapping and whistling, she said, “Two years from now, nobody’s talking about bitcoin anymore.” Federal officials say OneCoin is one of the largest global fraud schemes ever created.
Ignatova and Greenwood began marketing the fraudulent coin to potential investors in 2014, promising five to tenfold returns. At one point they called their investors "idiots" and "lunatics." The Crypto Queen is now the only woman on the FBI's most wanted list.
