According to new records, prominent crypto fraudster Ruja Ignatova, part of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted and believed to be on the run, was apparently already dead as far back as 2018.
A Bulgarian police document showed reports that Ignatova was killed in November 2018 on the order of Christoforos Amanatidis, a known drug lord by the nickname Taki.
Ignatova co-founded OneCoin, a Ponzi scheme that never established a blockchain and allegedly fleeced victims out of $4 billion between 2014 and 2017.
Though inconclusive, the new information is consistent with previous clues that Ignatova and her bogus cryptocurrency were involved with organized crime.
The narrative could also be a foreshadowing of the dangers that await other crypto scammers who may have collaborated with high-level thugs – a group that could include some of the most well-known crypto-fraudsters of 2022.
The Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data (BIRD) obtained documents including evidence of Ignatova’s murder. BIRD has shared documents obtained following the shooting of former Bulgarian police officer Lyubomir Ivanonov.
BIRD also says that the documents implicate Mikhail Naumov, the chief of Bulgaria’s national homicide investigators.
The docs are said to provide information regarding a Taki affiliate’s intoxicated utterances. Taki allegedly ordered Ignatova’s murder, which allegedly occurred in November 2018 on a yacht in the Ionian Sea. According to the reports, Ignatova’s body was then dismembered and dumped in the sea.
“The Prosecutor’s Office knows about the documents, but does not consider the documents within the meaning of the Criminal Procedure Code and so far does not investigate either the data on the murder of Ruja Ignatova…,” BIRD said in its report.
Ignatova has not been seen in public in over five years, and there has been much speculation about her disappearance, including the possibility that she has changed her look. Suspicion resurfaced recently when Ignatova’s London apartment was put up for sale, however the BBC says that the sale was done by German authorities who had supposedly seized the property, not by Ignatova.
In 2014, Ignatova and Sebastian Greenwood co-founded the cryptocurrency OneCoin in Sofia, Bulgaria. The coin was touted as a future “Bitcoin killer” via global multi-level marketing. As a result, the project attracted subscribers from more than 175 nations.
According to US court records, the pyramid scam had as many as three million participants at its peak, producing around $4 billion in revenue between 2014 and 2016. Prosecutors, on the other hand, are attempting to obtain justice for the victims. Europol added Ignatova to its list of Europe’s most sought fugitives in May of last year.
Bulgaria has been intensifying its crackdown on the crypto space following Ignatova’s OneCoin debacle. London-based firm Nexo earlier this year saw its offices in Bulgaria raided by authorities as part of an investigation on suspicion of money laundering, tax offenses, banking without a license, and computer fraud.
“The main organizers of the scheme are Bulgarian citizens, and the activity was carried out mainly from the territory of Bulgaria,” Attorney General Siika Mileva said in the statement. “Evidence has been collected that a person who used the platform and transferred cryptocurrencies has been officially declared a terrorist financing person.”
The suspicion is that the Bulgarians behind Nexo followed in the footsteps of Ignatova’s pyramid scheme with her crypto OneCoin.
Information for this briefing was found via CoinDesk, Finance Magnates, and the sources mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
