Lacking ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova ‘Might Be Hiding in Russia’

Lacking “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova could also be hiding in Russia to keep away from prison expenses, based on a BBC investigative journalist specializing in Kremlin affairs.

Ignatova was a Bulgarian-born entrepreneur who based a fraudulent cryptocurrency ‘pyramid scheme’ generally known as OneCoin, which is believed to have scammed buyers out of roughly $4 billion. She disappeared in 2017 and hasn’t been publicly positioned since.

Yoran Tsalov, who additionally labored for Bellingcat, argued that Ignatova “has been linked to a number of folks and pursuits related to the Kremlin” in an electronic mail shared with Decrypt. 

Tsalov claims these hyperlinks have been confirmed by Ignatova’s former safety adviser Frank Schneider throughout a BBC interview with him, performed as a part of the outlet’s Lacking CryptoQueen investigation and podcast collection.

Schneider is a former spy for Switzerland, who later based a personal investigation agency which was employed by OneCoin. He was put beneath home arrest in France, as a consequence of his reference to the operation, earlier than happening the run in 2023. 

As well as, Tsalov claims that the continuing BBC investigation established that a few of the corporations that laundered cash through OneCoin have been related to the previous pro-Russian president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich.

In 2019, Yanukovich was sentenced absentia to 13 years in jail on treason expenses by Ukraine’s highest courtroom. He’s broadly thought-about to have had a sprawling internet of offshore belongings acquired as a consequence of corruption.

Yanukovich himself now lives his life in exile in Russia.

Tsalov highlights that Ignatova’s safety adviser Frank Schneider himself evaded extradition.

“If he can orchestrate his disappearance from France the place he was beneath home arrest, awaiting extradition to the U.S., then definitely he can set up hers from Bulgaria,” he argued.

That is the non-public opinion of Tsalov, and isn’t essentially shared by the BBC group that performed the Lacking CryptoQueen investigation into the fraudster.

“It’s a lot simpler for the prison actors concerned on this affair to maintain her alive and, through her, handle their belongings,” Tsalov added.

There are numerous different theories in regards to the location of the lacking “Cryptoqueen.” German newspaper Der Spiegel additionally revealed an article in November 2024, stating that German authorities are on the lookout for a lady in South Africa. In the meantime, some Bulgarian police stories declare she might have been dismembered on a yacht and thrown into the Ionian Sea.

Many different high-profile wished folks hiding in Russia have prevented extradition requests for years.

Famend US authorities whistleblower Edward Snowden has lived in Russia since 2013.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.