The FBI has added a woman dubbed ‘the missing Cryptoqueen’ to their most wanted list.
Ruja Ignatova has been added to the Federal Bureau of Investigations list of top ten wanted - the only woman currently there - after she stands accused of scamming over $4 billion via her fraudulent OneCoin scheme.
Ruja - who is believed to be in her 40s - has not been seen since 2017 following the American authorities issuing an arrest warrant with her name on it after she launched the scheme, which promised buyers commission if they sold the currency on to others.
The FBI states that the cryptocurrency is worthless and was never protected by blockchain technology like others.
Federal prosecutors believe the programme was pyramid scheme dressed up as a cryptocurrency.
Damian Williams, a federal prosecutor based in New York City says Ruja “time her scheme perfectly” due to the hype at the time of its inception.
He said: "She timed her scheme perfectly, capitalising on the frenzied speculation of the early days of cryptocurrency.”
The FBI - who usually add people to the famed list after they believe the public can help their eventual discovery - are offering up a $100,000 reward to any information leading to her arrest, who was indicted on charges of wire fraud and securities fraud in 2019.
Jamie Bartlett - who created a BBC podcast titled ‘The Missing Cryptoqueen’ all about her and her crimes’ impact after years of investigation- called the move “the biggest development” she vanished.
He said: "This is probably the biggest development in the case since Dr Ruja disappeared in October 2017.”
"We also believe she has high quality fake identity documents and has changed her appearance,” as well as suggesting she might even be alive anymore after she was last seen flying from Bulgaria to Greece.
