The Cryptoqueen Who Vanished
From Money, Trust and Deception · 10:34
Show by Laurent
Ruja Ignatova promised to build the next Bitcoin. OneCoin had no blockchain, no coins, and no way to spend them — just a database, a stage, and a four billion dollar pyramid. Laurent traces the Wembley Arena spectacle, the disappearance in October 2017, the twenty-year sentence for her co-founder, and the five million dollar reward for the only woman on the FBI's most wanted list. Legal status: Ignatova has never been tried or convicted and is presumed innocent; the charges against her are allegations. The fraud was established in court through the guilty pleas of Karl Sebastian Greenwood (20 years, 2023), Konstantin Ignatov (time served, 2024) and Irina Dilkinska (4 years, 2024), and the trial conviction of Mark Scott (10 years, 2024). A 2023 report alleging Ignatova was murdered in 2018 is unconfirmed; the FBI still lists her as a fugitive. Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, S.D.N.Y. (indictments 2017-2018; Greenwood plea 2022; Scott conviction 2019; Dilkinska plea 2023; victim compensation process, Apr 2026); FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list; U.S. Department of State, Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (5 million dollar reward, June 2024); BBC, Cryptoqueen investigation (2019).
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