site.btaSofia City Prosecution Office Indicts Missing "Cryptoqueen" Ruja Ignatova in Absentia

The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office (SCP) has indicted in absentia Ruja Ignatova, a German citizen of Bulgarian origin suspected of fraud worth billions. She is to be detained for up to 72 hours upon identification, the institution said here on Monday.

In 2022. the BBC reported that missing "Cryptoqueen" Ignatova had made the US FBI's list of 10 most wanted persons. Ignatova is accused of embezzling more than USD 4 billion, which she tricked people into investing in her cryptocurrency trading company, OneCoin. However, this turned out to be a scam. She  has been missing since 2017, when an arrest warrant was issued against her in the United States. She was last seen boarding a plane from Bulgaria to Greece, after which her trail was lost.

On June 26, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov said that Ignatova's would be indicted during a press conference, which was also attended by US Ambassador Kenneth Merten and Plamen Tonchev, Chairman of the State Agency for National Security (SANS). The indictment will allow the Bulgarian authorities to take the necessary action to seize her illegally acquired assets. Ambassador Merten said that the US government has announced a new reward of up to USD 5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Bulgarian-born German citizen Ruja Ignatova.

The investigation by the SCPO is for a criminal group and money laundering. It was launched in connection with material received from foreign law enforcement authorities. Ignatova is charged with having formed and led an organised criminal group in the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria in the period from 2014 to 2017, which was established for the purpose of committing investment fraud under the Ponzi scheme, as well as for a self-serving purpose.

Ruzha Ignatova was also charged with money laundering - for having, in the period from 2014 to 2017, under the conditions of a continuing crime, as an instigator and an aider in some cases and as a perpetrator in others, carried out numerous transactions for the disposal of property, thus concealing the origin and the actual rights to property which she knew to have been acquired through criminal activity - Ponzi-type investment fraud.