A glamorous jet-setting fugitive known as the “Cryptoqueen” who oversaw a $4 billion Ponzi scheme akin to Bernie Madoff now has a $5 million bounty on her head, the FBI announced Thursday.
Ruja Ignatova, an Oxford University-educated Bulgarian national charged with wooing unsuspecting clients to spend fortunes on worthless cryptocurrency, remains one of the FBI’s most elusive “Most Wanted” suspects after dodging international authorities for seven years.
“She may travel on a German passport to the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, Greece and/or Eastern Europe,” the feds said — a nod to how slippery the accused crafty criminal has been since last being spotted in 2017.
The brunette braniac, who has a penchant for blood-red lipstick, is believed to be traveling with armed guards or associates — and may have had plastic surgery to alter her appearance, the FBI added.
Ignatova has claimed her birth date is May 30, 1980, making her 44 years old, the agency said. It added that she speaks three languages, English, German and Bulgarian.
“Ignatova was the founder of OneCoin Ltd., a Bulgaria-based company that marketed a purported cryptocurrency,” the feds said in a statement.
“In order to execute the scheme, Ignatova allegedly made false statements and representations to individuals in order to solicit investments in OneCoin. Throughout the scheme, OneCoin is believed to have defrauded victims out of more than $4 billion.”
The suspect reportedly grew up dirt poor in Bulgaria, where her father worked in a tire shop — and where she developed her obsession for money.
At her height, her properties included a penthouse in the posh Kensington section of London and a more than $7 million “superyacht” dubbed the “Davina.”
Ignatova was last spotted Oct. 25, 2017, when she took a commercial flight from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece — and has been in the wind since, federal authorities said.
Her wingman, Swedish national Karl Greenwood, was tracked down and hit with a 20-year sentence in US District Court in Manhattan last year after pleading guilty to wire fraud and money laundering.
Greenwood pocketed more than $300 million in the cryptocurrency scam and used it to fund a lavish lifestyle that included the purchase of a Sunseeker yacht — until he was busted in Thailand in 2018.
At his sentencing, US District Judge Edgardo Ramos likened the OneCoin scam to the Madoff debacle, calling it as “massive in many respects.”
Authorities said at least 3.5 million investors were duped into the OneCoin.
Ignatova was added to the FBI Most Wanted list in June 2022, with the feds initially offering a $250,000 reward for her capture and conviction.
Ignatova is no dummy — despite her now notorious status, she was once described as a brilliant student who earned a scholarship to the prestigious Konstanz University, considered the “Harvard of Germany,” and went on to earn a master’s degree in comparative European Law from Oxford University.
But according to prosecutors, she and her partner created OneCoin “as a fraud from day one.”
