Although there is no obvious evidence of the death of the founder of the $4.5 billion OneCoin cryptopyramide, Ruja Ignatova, she is most likely dead. This was stated by former IRS investigator Richard Reinhardt in an interview with the BBC.
In February 2023, the BIRD project, citing Bulgarian police documents, reported that the businesswoman was killed in 2018 on a yacht in the Ionian Sea.
Bulgarian investigative journalist Dimitar Stoyanov and his colleagues from BIRD managed to gain access to the reports of informants found in the house of the murdered policeman. According to one of the documents, the murder was committed on the orders of Christoforos Nikos Amanatidis, known as Taki.
Bulgaria believes that he is the head of the mafia and the largest drug smuggler in the country's history. Amanatidis and his accomplices were under investigation on charges of armed robbery, drug trafficking, and murder, but were never brought to justice.
From guards to assassins?
BBC journalists learned from Europol documents that came into their possession that the Bulgarian police had established a connection between Taki and Ignatova before her disappearance in 2017. Law enforcement officers suspect that he used cryptopyramide to launder funds.
"We were told that a major drug dealer was responsible for her physical safety. The name was mentioned more than once. It was a regular topic," Reinhardt confirmed to the publication.
This echoes information received by journalists earlier: in 2019, US state prosecutors stated that the head of Ignatova's security service is a major drug dealer from Bulgaria, although they did not name him. According to them, he was also involved in her disappearance.
A Bulgarian source close to Ignatova reported that she may have been paying up to €100,000 per month.
Ignatova's ex-adviser Frank Schneider, who handed over the Europol documents to the BBC, confirmed that his boss worked with "crooks" and "gangsters". But he refused to give any names.
"I won't tell you who, because I have a family. [...] This is a really serious organized crime," he said.
At the time of the interview, Schneider was under house arrest in France, awaiting extradition to the United States. A few months later, he disappeared.
Stoyanov suggests that at some point Ignatova became a burden to Taki and he preferred to get rid of her. The journalist noted that Bulgarian law enforcement officers confirmed the authenticity of the informant's report, but they cannot use this statement as evidence.
Experts are almost certain of the murder, but there is no evidence
Stoyanov managed to communicate with one of Taki's accomplices, Krasimir Kamenov, nicknamed Kuro, who is wanted for the murder. He said that he asked the drug lord if it was worth discussing criminal cases with Ignatova.
"Don't worry, she's almost dead," he allegedly replied.
Kuro also claimed that he had talked about Taki with the CIA, including regarding the murder of the founder of OneCoin. BBC sources confirmed that such a meeting took place at the end of 2022.
In May 2023, Kamenov was murdered at his home in Cape Town, along with his wife and two other people who worked for him. South African police are still searching for the killers.
After examining the available property records and talking with eyewitnesses, Stoyanov discovered that most of Ignatova's Bulgarian property is now being used by people associated with Taki.
"There is no honor among thieves, [...] knowing how violent the cartels are, if [Taki] thought she posed a threat to him, [...] he probably would have eliminated her instead of being caught," Reinhardt said.
The BBC team, after the podcast "The Missing Crypto Queen" released in 2019, received a lot of information and messages about Ignatova's whereabouts after her alleged murder, including details of the unsuccessful police operation in Greece to capture her in 2022.
Journalists admit that the rumors about her death are just a brilliant maneuver designed to throw everyone off the scent.
"At some point, it may seem that Elvis Presley is still alive. [...] In fact, this is unlikely," commented former Bulgarian Deputy Minister Ivan Hristanov, who conducted an investigation against Taki in 2022.
In May 2022, Europol included Ignatova in the list of the most wanted criminals. Next, the FBI added the founder of OneCoin to a similar list.
At the time of writing, Ignatova's card is missing from the corresponding page of the EU police service.
American law enforcement authorities have not yet excluded her from the top ten most wanted persons. However, Reinhardt is confident that the agency will not do this until it receives "final proof" of her death.
https://forklog.com/exclusive/skam-desyatiletiya-kak-doktor-yuridicheskih-nauk-organizovala-piramidu-onecoin-i-propala-bez-vesti-s-milliardami-evroRecall that in March, the brother of the OneCoin founder Konstantin Ignatov was released in the United States after three years in prison.