And his targets were public libraries in America where he would masquerade as a "jolly," well-educated professor and ultimately pillage rare books to the tune of more than half a million dollars. Jen McAdam has a fiery Skype call with cryptocurrency enthusiast Tim Curry. (I tested this explanation on my mother, the family technophobe, and she told me I'd failed to make it clear enough and should start again. But to me it symbolises something else too. From a tiny fragment of a poster advertising a tennis tournament, an expert identified the park in which one photograph was taken. "I'm somehow hiding myself. Before too long they had passed 100,000 - a 10-fold return. Just as he was boarding his flight home, he was pounced on by FBI agents, arrested, and charged with fraud in connection with OneCoin. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. The now 42-year-old is thought to hold both Russian and Ukrainian passports and use a fake ID. Maybe 1,000 wasn't enough? She started her own company, OneCoin, in 2014 with her brother Konstantin Ignatov, which was touted as a lucrative rival to the leading . She started asking the leaders of her OneCoin group if there was a blockchain. Then he tries checking the company's owners. "In two years, nobody will speak about Bitcoin any more!" 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. In 2020, it was announced that Jennifer McAdam will be portrayed by Kate Winslet in an upcoming Hollywood film about the OneCoin fraud. Perhaps it would put him in an uncomfortable position. From the very beginning, she was a gifted child and always at the top of her class. Dr Ruja's genius was to take all of this and sell the idea to the masses. She studied at Oxford University and received a PhD in International Law from the University of Constance. By the time the webinar had finished she had decided to invest 1,000. But the authorities all over the world have been slow to react, partly because the whole area of cryptocurrencies is relatively new. In early October 2016 - four months after Dr Ruja's London appearance - a blockchain expert called Bjorn Bjercke was called by a recruitment agent, with a curious job offer. In addition to losing their own money, they were the instigators for their loved ones to lose their investments as well. '", Money might push people to invest in the first place, but the sense of belonging, of doing something, of achieving something, is why they stay, Barker says. And Peragon was owned by another company called Artefix, which was owned by Ruja's mother, Veska. Between August 2014 and March 2017 more than 4bn was invested in dozens of countries. So it seems Ruja is still alive, and is able to visit a European capital without fearing arrest. It meant Ignatova was kept out of public records and land registry deeds until now. Following the success of Bitcoin and the subsequent explosion of its price, investors who bought early at a low price made huge returns. So it's our blockchain technology, a SQL server with a database.". Dr Ruja identified several of society's weak spots and exploited them. I had no clue that it could be false. 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. Georgia suggests we tell Daniel's mother that we are journalists, and that we are investigating OneCoin because a lot of people aren't getting their money. Then, two years ago, she disappeared. There were rumours of course - lots of them. Jamie Bartlett spent months investigating how she did it for the Missing Cryptoqueen podcast, and trying to figure out where she's hiding. It added that the allegations made about it around the world were being challenged, stating: "Our partners, our customers and our lawyers are fighting successfully against this action around the globe and we are sure that the vision of a new system on the basis of a 'financial revolution' will be established. We've received your submission. You can listen to episodes here. From the very beginning, she was a gifted child and always at the top of her class. One spring day a few months earlier, Jen McAdam received a message from a friend about an unmissable investment opportunity. It's hard to know how much money has been put into OneCoin. The family had saved about 3,000 to buy a maize store so that Daniel's mother could stop spending every day in the fields. "We made in our first month almost 90,000 out of nothing. In June 2022, she was added to the FBI's 10 most wanted list. 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. McAdam started a Facebook support group for other defrauded victims of OneCoin. The key point is that these special blockchain databases are what make cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin work. Jennifer McAdam, a 52-year-old Scottish single parent and businesswoman who fell victim to OneCoin fraud commented that she was pleased the FBI had added Ignatova to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He claims metadata on the files suggests she obtained the information via her own contacts in Bulgaria. Together with Daniel, Georgia and I travel south to meet his mother. FBI records presented in court documents earlier this year indicate that on 25 October 2017, just two weeks after her Lisbon no-show, she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens. She is best known as the founder of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme known as OneCoin, which The Times has described as "one of the biggest scams in history". Then a few days later we received a call from a trusted source we cannot identify. After Jen McAdam invested into OneCoin she was constantly told she was part of the OneCoin "family". "If you have your money and it's taken away from you, life becomes stressful," she says. ", Such explanations don't offer much comfort to those affected. [12] She reportedly has also worked for McKinsey & Company. "She was on her way. Aliases: Dr. Ruja Ignatova, Ruja Plamenova Ignatova, Ruja P. Ignatova, "CryptoQueen" Date(s) . Dr Ruja Ignatova offered a cryptocurrency of her own devising called OneCoin. Listen to The Missing Cryptoqueen podcast, with Jamie Bartlett and producer Georgia Catt, on BBC Sounds. The documents include details of US authorities having a "high-placed confidential informant", OneCoin bank accounts receiving investor funds, and unsuccessful efforts by the UK's City of London Police to interview Ms Ignatova. "If they still thought we were a fraudulent company, then guess what, that warning's not removed. They keep postponing this. "You're in at such an early stage and it's just going to go like Bitcoin. Despite the successful facade, trouble was brewing. It's going to go bigger. The self-styled crypto queen, however, is now wanted by law enforcement for her involvement in the OneCoin scheme. She tried to close it down, he says, but the dark forces wouldn't let her. It starts to get very very very scary, very very very fast." Sky Germany, the U.K.'s Channel 4 and super-indie Fremantle are backing a three-part doc series about the con, which was spearheaded by the mysterious Dr. Ruja Ignatova, who is still on the run . This is clearly a question for a professional, which is why Georgia and I went to see private investigator Alan McLean. They'd read, with envy, the stories of people striking gold with Bitcoin and thought OneCoin was a second chance. "I think she was so scared in the fall of 2017 that she decided to skip.". In October 2017, Ruja was scheduled to appear in a OneCoin promotional event in Lisbon, Portugal. By March 2017, more than 3.5 billion had been invested in the OneCoin system. She asks what news we have about OneCoin. MLM is not illegal. But in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, it was the other way round. Dr Ruja Ignatova called her creation the 'Bitcoin killer' - and her hype duped a million investors. What are the things that I'm going to have to do for this company?'" What's he waiting for? Do you know what agencies go after them? ", The City of London Police told the BBC: "There was insufficient evidence to support criminal proceedings against individuals based in the UK, though the force has never specified that there had been no concerns surrounding OneCoin. No lights visible through the windows. Investigative reporter Jamie Bartlett, host ofThe Missing Cryptoqueenpodcast, in conjunction with the BBC, initially flagged a tenuous link between the fraudster and the penthouse. She had no computer or smartphone, to do her own research. As in other countries, OneCoin has spread here through networks of friends and families. Dr. Ruja Ignatova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria on May 30, 1980. The police documents were passed to The Missing Cryptoqueen podcast by Frank Schneider, a former spy and trusted adviser to Ms Ignatova. And then in 2017, the ownership of Artefix was sold to an unknown man in his 20s. The manager of the database could go in and change it at will. "Oh, hey presto, they haven't filed a person with significant control. But by this stage, thanks to Curry and Bjercke, she knew that a standard SQL server database was no basis for a genuine cryptocurrency. Will she get her money back? He was an Italian immigrant whose investment scam resulted in people losing tens of millions of dollars. 2023 BBC. From either Greece or Romania Dr Ruja could be extradited to the US. Before long, she had invested 10,000 of her own money - and persuaded friends and family to invest 250,000 of theirs. "I said to Andreea, 'We need to build it up to 100 million coins, because when this coin goes to 100 and we have 100 million, we are richer than Bill Gates.' In 2012, she was convicted of fraud in Germany in connection with the acquisition of a steel company obtained by Ruja and her father. He takes the first one on the list and looks it up on the Companies House website. She left with a tremendous amount of cash, FBI spokesman Michael Driscoll added. Hotels near Romer Hotels near Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof Hotels near Main Tower Hotels near Cathedral of St. Bartholomew (Dom St. Bartholomaus) Hotels near Stadel Museum Hotels near Palmengarten Hotels near Iron Bridge Hotels near Zoo Frankfurt Hotels near Senckenberg Natural History Museum (Naturmuseum Senckenberg) Hotels near Frankfurt am Main Men are drinking champagne from the bottle, everyone is eyeing us in a way that makes us feel very uncomfortable. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. I don't want to be the person that breaks the news to Daniel's mother. Over the next several weeks, Curry sent a stream of information about how cryptocurrencies work: links, articles, YouTube videos. "Well then prove it to me!" Bang!". asked Bjercke. Onecoin's Ruja Ignatova is a mysterious woman who has been on the run for over three years now. She is best known as the founder of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme known as OneCoin, which The Times has described as "one of the biggest scams in history". This is a pyramid scheme, and it's very illegal. "Where's the support? "You are so lucky that you're seeing this webinar right now," she was told. Ignatova founded Onecoin in concert with Sebastian Greenwood and her brother, Konstantin Ignatov. OneCoin is no longer operational, with the token unusable and the website inactive. OneCoin has always denied wrongdoing. Ruja Ignatova was born in Sofia but moved to Germany when she was 8 years old. Some are divorced.". The Bulgarian woman, believed to be in her 40s, is wanted for her alleged. No wonder it spread like wildfire. Bjorn Bjercke is a blockchain expert and he was the first person who started speaking publicly against OneCoin. Several of the people Georgia and I interviewed spoke darkly about mysterious people and connections they didn't want to name. The FCA did not respond to the BBC's request to comment. "So we need you to build a blockchain," he went on. In fact, she had gone underground. Twitter Ruja Ignatova was added to the FBI's Ten Most. Now a hit podcast is stepping up the search for the international scam artist, writes Tanya Sweeney In 2014, 34-year-old Ignatova and Sebastian Greenwood, an expert in multi-level marketing, launched a cryptocurrency called OneCoin. Beginning in . He thought OneCoin would give cryptocurrencies a bad name, and he told McAdam bluntly that it was a scam - "the biggest scam in the [expletive] world". "When you look at my clothes, they are disciplined," he says. Facebook Previously, the property belonged to a company called Abbots House Penthouse Limited,. Some feared she'd been killed or kidnapped by the banks, who - they'd been told - had most to fear from the cryptocurrency revolution. He clicks to see the company's filing history, but where you should see company accounts, there is nothing. Missing Cryptoqueen joins FBI ten most wanted, Revealed: The Cryptoqueen's 13.5m London penthouse. Everything is meant to be transparent - the website contains the details of every company in the UK. On the same day he was arrested, the FBI declared OneCoin a fraudulent currency. There's a famous saying in journalism, "Follow the money." Officers from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Dubai and Bulgaria were also present. More folk are going to promote this. 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. Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Looking to get ideas for places to take our 3 year old while in Frankfurt. The head office in Sofia, where she was such an imposing presence, didn't know anything either. And, most frustratingly of all, she correctly guessed that by the time we realised it, she'd be gone, along with the money. 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. Daniel's mother then tells us that when she first saw me and Georgia, she assumed it was a good sign - that perhaps it meant that her money was going to arrive at last. "That's what they call it. That's the most important thing of all," he says. he recalls. The inescapable conclusion was that those rising numbers on the OneCoin website were meaningless - they were just numbers typed into a computer by a OneCoin employee. I didn't even know what is a blockchain What doubt can I have?". They started pitching it to potential investors in 2014, promising between a fivefold and tenfold return, and referred to their investors as idiots and crazy. People involved at the early stages have told him it was never supposed to be a billion-dollar scam. Now this link has been confirmed Bartlett said it could be a breakthrough. In Europe, less money was invested in the first six months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016. When I ask him who might be behind the threats, he won't elaborate. They are desperate to get their hands on the conwoman, offering a $100,000 reward for intel that ultimately leads to her arrest. Around the same time, the US authorities charged Dr Ruja in absentia for wire fraud, security fraud and money laundering. 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. According to the Irish Daily Mail, filmmaker Scott Z. Burns, who is behind the production, described McAdam as the new Erin Brockovich. A reward is offered for information leading to the arrest of the co-founder of the alleged cryptocurrency 'OneCoin' in hiding since 2017. bka.de/oeffentlichkeitsfahndung14", "Ruja Ignatova: What we know about the OneCoin affair DW 07/05/2022", "OneCoin's Missing 'Crypto Queen' Is Now One of Europe's Most-Wanted Fugitives", https://twitter.com/VessOnSecurity/status/1627201381873352704/, "The life and crimes of Ruja Ignatova, new to FBI's 10 Most Wanted Ruja Ignatova", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruja_Ignatova&oldid=1141594616, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Bulgarian-language text, Articles with failed verification from February 2023, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. He will be sentenced in April and could receive up to 20 years in prison. But they used some of this cash to buy more OneCoin. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. OneCoin was still growing fast, and Dr Ruja was starting to spend her new fortune: buying multi-million-dollar properties in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, and the Black Sea resort of Sozopol. Do you know how they do so? Nobody knew why she wasn't there," recalls one delegate. So much for following the money. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Following her studies, she became a . Far from putting an end to their financial worries, she and her friends and family had thrown a quarter of a million euros away. But when Daniel found out about OneCoin, it suddenly seemed like a much better alternative. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. "We believe consumers should be wary of dealing with OneCoin," it said. She would urge and convince simple people to invest in OneCoin and not be left out of the huge potential profits. 2023 BBC. She now runs Whatsapp support groups for OneCoin investors who realise they have been swindled. Not guilt," he replies. She exploited the Cryptocurrency boom for a fortune and then disappeared without a trace . And then went completely off radar. "OK Jen they don't want to disclose that kind of information, just in case something goes wrong where the blockchain is being held. 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. Until this week, however, the OneCoin head office remained open for business - and people were continuing to promote the currency. 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. To explain this, I need first to explain briefly how a cryptocurrency actually works. According to Bjercke, Dr Ruja never expected OneCoin to grow so big. The US Department of Prosecutions has charged Ignatova with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud. On 6 March 2019 Konstantin Ignatov was at Los Angeles International airport, waiting to fly back to Bulgaria after some OneCoin meetings in the US. But they have always failed because no-one could trust them. [25] The FBI followed up with an episode of its podcast and YouTube series Inside the FBI devoted to Ignatova and the OneCoin case. OneCoin was not a cryptocurrency and it did not have blockchain technology. We also learned that Dr Ruja had a daughter in late 2016, and that she remained very close to her. Believed to be the person that breaks the news to Daniel dr ruja ignatova daughter mother in one... 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