Suspected Murder of ‘Crypto Queen’ Behind OneCoin Scandal: BBC Investigation Uncovers New Evidence
Ruja Ignatova, also known as the ‘crypto queen’ and the only woman on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list, is believed to have been murdered by a Bulgarian drug lord who also served as her hired bodyguard. The BBC’s investigative team has recently released new evidence regarding the alleged murder of this notorious crypto fraudster with ties to organized crime.
In 2014, Ignatova, a notorious Bulgarian woman, was involved in promoting a fraudulent cryptocurrency called ‘OneCoin.’ Through persuasive tactics, she managed to convince millions of users to invest in this crypto, promising incredibly high returns. However, Ignatova later fled with investors’ money, which amounted to a staggering $4.5 billion at the time.
The scale of this scam attracted global attention and resulted in the arrest of several key individuals involved in the Ponzi scheme. The most recent arrest in connection with the case was that of William Morro, an accomplice in the OneCoin scheme who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
For the past year, the BBC World Service’s Eye Investigations and Panorama have been conducting an investigation into Ignatova’s whereabouts.
One significant revelation from the investigation is that Ignatova had hired a Bulgarian drug kingpin named Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, commonly known as Taki, to provide her with protection during her escape. Taki, who has ties to organized crime and is involved in armed robberies and murder, received a monthly compensation of €100,000 for his services.
According to Ivan Hristanov, a former Bulgarian deputy minister, Taki is an extremely powerful figure who heads the mafia in Bulgaria. It is reported that Taki is currently residing in one of Ignatova’s luxury penthouses in Dubai, where millions of dollars from the fraudulent scheme were deposited into her bank account.
The question of whether the ‘Missing Crypto Queen’ is dead or alive has been a topic of speculation. Bulgarian investigative journalist Dimitar Stoyanov first broke the news of Ignatova’s alleged murder in 2022 through the bird.bg news outlet. Stoyanov and his colleagues obtained a police document that was discovered at the home of a murdered Bulgarian police officer.
According to the document, Taki’s brother-in-law drunkenly revealed that Ignatova’s murder was executed in 2018 on Taki’s orders. Her body was allegedly dismembered and disposed of from a yacht in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Greece.
Bulgarian officials have confirmed the authenticity of the document and believe the theory to be true, as stated by Stoyanov in his interview with the BBC. However, previous reports have identified the actual perpetrator of the murder as Hristo Hristov, who was subsequently detained on unrelated drug smuggling charges in the Netherlands.
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