Ruja Ignatova is a Bulgarian convicted fraudster. She is best known as the founder of Ponzi scheme OneCoin in 2014, described as "one of the biggest scams in history". She has been on the run since 2017. In early 2019 she was charged in absentia by U.S. authorities for wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.
In June 2016 the then 36-year-old Ruja, renowned for her expensive dresses and red lipstick, walked on stage at Wembley Arena in front of adoring fans.
She told the cheering crowd that OneCoin was on course to become the world's biggest cryptocurrency. OneCoin, Ruja spewed, was the Bitcoin Killer. "In two years, nobody will speak about Bitcoin any more!" she shouted. The truth was OneCoin wasn't just a fake cryptocurrency, it was a classic pyramid scheme, with the fake coin as its product. The company claimed to have more than 3 million members worldwide.
OneCoin generated some 3.4b euros ($4b) in revenue from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2016, but had zero value. The location of Ruja Ignatova remains a mystery.
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