Europol said it was looking into the issue. Bjorn received 7.69 million euros which were transferred from Hong Kong. The reason so many people are excited by Bitcoin is that it solves that problem. It took McAdam three months to go through it all, but questions were starting to form. In May 2015, already a very successful MLM seller, Igor Alberts was invited to a OneCoin event in Dubai, where he met lots of people, all apparently making fortunes with this new currency. Armed with a microphone and several photographs of Dr Ruja, we headed off to Frankfurt and searched old addresses and gated neighbourhoods said to be the most expensive in Germany. Finding people is his speciality, and there is one thing above all he says we should focus on. There is a BBC Sounds podcast called "The Missing Cryptoqueen." Then he tries checking the company's owners. Onecoin's Ruja Ignatova is a mysterious woman who has been on the run for over three years now. For several months, a French journalist called Maxime Grimbert tried to unpick OneCoin's corporate workings, collecting as many company names and bank account details as he could. They'd read, with envy, the stories of people striking gold with Bitcoin and thought OneCoin was a second chance. Looking to get ideas for places to take our 3 year old while in Frankfurt. [27][28], Ignatova was married to the German lawyer Bjorn Strehl, with whom she had a daughter in 2016.[2][29]. Its understood Ignatova purchased the property under a company name, but a new rule means that the beneficiary of said company must also be named in full. "We made in our first month almost 90,000 out of nothing. "No other company even came close," Alberts says. While in Waltenhofen, we learned that she had a German husband, a lawyer for the well-known firm, Linklaters. "OK Jen they don't want to disclose that kind of information, just in case something goes wrong where the blockchain is being held. A postman thought he recognised the name, but couldn't be sure. Read about our approach to external linking. The promoters said it was the larger packages that were really life-changing. One of the main OneCoin offices in Kampala is attached to a church. What's he waiting for? Black-and-gold shoes, black-and-gold pleated suit, black-and-gold shirt, black-and-gold sunglasses, and he has a thick black-and-gold ring on. It's a green light for the OneCoin scammers to continue and extort more money from innocent people in the UK and nothing has been done about it. And plus, as an application, it doesn't need a server behind it. In June 2022, she was added to the FBI's 10 most wanted list. I don't want to be the person that breaks the news to Daniel's mother. Greenwood was arrested in 2018. Although Jen McAdam had now seen the light, few other OneCoin investors had. The stranger was Timothy Curry, a Bitcoin enthusiast and cryptocurrency advocate. One day soon, she was told, she would be able to turn these coins back into euros or pounds. Blame is not easy to apportion. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. She reportedly earned a PhD in private international law from the University of Constance and has a daughter who. We also learned that Dr Ruja had a daughter in late 2016, and that she remained very close to her. Before long, she had invested 10,000 of her own money - and persuaded friends and family to invest 250,000 of theirs. [25] The FBI followed up with an episode of its podcast and YouTube series Inside the FBI devoted to Ignatova and the OneCoin case. Investigative reporter Jamie Bartlett, host ofThe Missing Cryptoqueenpodcast, in conjunction with the BBC, initially flagged a tenuous link between the fraudster and the penthouse. Around the same time, the US authorities charged Dr Ruja in absentia for wire fraud, security fraud and money laundering. "You are so lucky that you're seeing this webinar right now," she was told. You can listen to episodes here. Every time a Bitcoin is sent from me to someone else, a record of that transaction goes into everyone's book. The alleged motive for the murder was to conceal the drug lord's involvement in the OneCoin scam. But when Daniel found out about OneCoin, it suddenly seemed like a much better alternative. Ruja Ignatova celebrating her birthday with her husband and OneCoin members. Why have so many people continued to believe in OneCoin, despite all the evidence? In addition to losing their own money, they were the instigators for their loved ones to lose their investments as well. Following the success of Bitcoin and the subsequent explosion of its price, investors who bought early at a low price made huge returns. We will be there for a week and wanted to take various day trips as well as tour the actual city. They keep postponing this. He introduced her to Bjorn Bjercke, the blockchain developer who said there was no blockchain. "You can never be blamed for believing in something. Frantic calls and messages went unanswered. "Particularly if you have invested something, not only money, but belief, reputation, intelligence. 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They didn't feel they were taking a risk, because they trusted Ruja and her education and work experience. Ruja Ignatova and her business partner Sebastian Greenwood conned their clients out of $4 Billion. "You're told not to believe anything from the 'outside world'," she recalls. People in villages trust people from the city, Prudence tells us. A book about this case was written by British investigative reporter Jamie Bartlett and published in June 2022. "If Dr. Ruja still has the 230,000 bitcoins, she would be one of the currency's largest holders. Now this link has been confirmed Bartlett said it could be a breakthrough. They thought I ate their money.". You think, 'Wait a bit longer. She studied at Oxford University and received a PhD in International Law from the University of Constance. ", The webinar hosts talked about Dr Ruja's glittering background: Oxford University, a PhD from Konstanz, a stint with the respected management consultancy, McKinsey and Company A speech Dr Ruja had given at a conference hosted by The Economist magazine was shown - and that's what clinched it for McAdam. That I don't know what they're thinking. Except now with plastic surgery, and so harder to spot. Investors often told us that what drew them in initially was the fear that they would miss out on the next big thing. We had also visited the town of Waltenhofen in Bavaria, not far away, where she and her father bought a steelworks around a decade ago, an episode that led to her being tried for fraud. ", Such explanations don't offer much comfort to those affected. It suggests she is still alive, and there are documents out there somewhere which contain vital clues as to her recent whereabouts. OneCoin was not a cryptocurrency and it did not have blockchain technology. The article follows the life of a woman who started with the best possible education and a gifted personality, but threw it all away by making the worst possible life choices. "There's the answer, right from the horse's mouth, it's official," said one promoter from Alberta, Canada, in a video posted online. "I'm somehow hiding myself. "In my opinion, for what it's worth, she's moving around the Mediterranean," he says. Then he says I should check what yachts were bought in Athens around the time she arrived there from Sofia. I sell a box to my friends, Georgia and Phil, and make a small cut. She knew there would be enough people either desperate enough, or greedy enough, or confused enough to take a bet on OneCoin. She started asking the leaders of her OneCoin group if there was a blockchain. "That's what they call it. Ruja Ignatova profile summary Full name: Ruja Ignatova Date of birth: 30th May 1980 Place of birth: Sofia, Bulgaria Hometown: Schramberg, Baden-Wrttemberg state, Germany Zodiac Sign: Taurus Age: 41 years Company: OneCoin Nationality: Bulgarian Ethnicity: Caucasian Parents: Veska and Plamen Ignatov Sibling: Konstantin Ignatov Amazingly, even after this, OneCoin continued to function - and people continued to invest in it. There are videos of the minister, known as Bishop Fred, leading the congregation in call and response. She can't bring herself to tell them the truth. "When you look at my clothes, they are disciplined," he says. We explore the path she followed in her business life, making her extremely rich, extremely quicklybut it was all done at the expense of others. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is one of five financial routes Ignatova has known connections to. "I've never told her directly that it's not going to work - that there is no more money, there's no more hope," he tells me. "Well then prove it to me!" Many were struck by the personality and persuasiveness of the "visionary" Dr Ruja. I ask if he felt guilty, for having sold so many people a coin that didn't exist, and for having made so much money in the process. He is now facing extradition to the US for his alleged role in the OneCoin fraud. Ignatovas associates havent been as lucky. In 2012, she was convicted of fraud in Germany in connection to the acquisition of a steel company that she and her father acquired. But this is the first principle to grasp: money is only valuable because other people think it's valuable. A couple of people looked at the photographs and paused for a long time, raising our hopes - but then said they didn't recognise her. He claimed to be a good Samaritan, someone who had studied OneCoin carefully and wanted to speak to people who had invested. In early June 2016 a 36-year-old businesswoman called Dr Ruja Ignatova walked on stage at Wembley Arena in front of thousands of adoring fans. She now runs Whatsapp support groups for OneCoin investors who realise they have been swindled. She was dressed, as usual, in an expensive ballgown, wearing long diamond earrings and bright red lipstick. It's no surprise, then, that OneCoin's corporate structure is incredibly complicated. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Dozens of girls treated after new Iran poisonings, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US. He points out that he spent millions buying OneCoin, possibly more than anyone else. The problem, he explains, is that following the money isn't as easy as it sounds, because criminals structure their companies and bank accounts in such a way that their assets seem to disappear. In general, people are tempted by the idea of making huge profits fast. If it's true she was in these countries earlier this year, she probably has a fake identity. Several days ago, a penthouse apartment in the London suburb of Kensington, England, went up for sale with an asking price of 12.5 million [$15.5 million] which was then downgraded to 11 million [$13.6 million]. Despite the successful facade, trouble was brewing. (Source: Indias Magazine) The pair are blessed with one daughter. This was the secret of OneCoin's success. No wonder it spread like wildfire. But in January 2017 it was shut down permanently. I show his results to Bullough, who immediately notices how many British companies there are. Then, two years ago, she disappeared. Dr Ignatova pulled off one of the world's biggest ever scams, based on her new cryptocurrency called 'OneCoin', before disappearing in 2017. On the run since 2017, Dr Ruja Ignat "When you talk about the amount of money that's been put into OneCoin of course there's people out there who are pissed off and would do anything to shut anyone like me up," says Bjorn Bjercke, the blockchain expert who discovered there was no blockchain, and started talking about it publicly. The Onecoin Ponzi was a multi-level-marketing (MLM) venture that featured packages that were ostensibly tethered to a blockchain network. There, she recruited members to promote OneCoin and sell to their friends and relatives. They have persuaded their friends and families to invest in OneCoin. It wasn't a place we'd previously thought of looking. So much for following the money. On October 25, two weeks after the Lisbon event, she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens, Greece. 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