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US authorities warn of Roja Ignatova’s disappearance since her disappearance in 2017.
Ruja Ignatova, also known as the “disappearing cryptocurrency queen,” has been informed that police are investigating a $ 4 billion worth of fraud that Ignatova committed prior to his disappearance.
Ignatova, 42, of Bulgarian descent, is being prosecuted for her alleged role in managing an investment fraud in a cryptocurrency known as OneCoin.
The BBC saw documents from Europol (the European law enforcement agency) that a fugitive persecuted by the FBI was informed of an attempted arrest months before her disappearance.
Police documents were leaked in a podcast called “The Disappearing Queen of Crypto” hosted by Frank Schneider, a former Ignatova client and trusted advisor.
Schneider denies looking for the documents, which he says were leaked to him via a USB stick by Ignatova.
Schneider states that the metadata contained in the files indicates that Ignatova obtained the information through her private contacts in Bulgaria.
Schneider is now facing extradition to the United States for his alleged role in the OneCoin scam.
Europol said it was investigating the case.
Ignatova disappeared from public view on October 25, 2017, after being informed that a thorough police investigation was underway into her cryptocurrency, OneCoin.
Last June, Roja Ignatova was added to the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list.
photo released, FBI
FBI investigators believe Ignatova is traveling with armed guards
“satellite meeting”
Police documents contain conversations from a Europol satellite meeting in The Hague on 15 March 2017.
According to the documents, the meeting was attended by members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Department of Justice and the New York Attorney General’s Office.
Interested officials from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Dubai and Bulgaria also attended the meeting.
The documents included details of a highly trusted secret agent used by US authorities, details of investor-funded bank accounts in the OneCoin cryptocurrency, as well as other details of an unsuccessful London police effort to interrogate Ignatova.
The FBI did not comment on Europol’s documents, but an FBI Special Agent named Paul Roberts told the podcast: “Investigations around the world are underway into Ignatova and the OneCoin cryptocurrency in general, and Ignatova has learned of those investigations and legal procedures followed in his case. “.
US prosecutors in court in 2019 indicted Schneider for providing Ignatova with confidential police information, although it was unclear whether the allegations were specifically related to the podcast leaks.
Schneider (left) in an interview with BBC journalist Jimmy Bartlett
Schneider denies possession of the documents, stating: “When Bulgarians attended specific Europol meetings, it took hours for (Ignatova) to learn the details of the meetings.”
Schneider added: “I can conclude that he got the information through the circles he mingles with and through his contacts with a vast network of influential people.”
The documents indicate the presence of figures from the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior at the Europol agency meeting, held in March 2017.
In turn, the BBC asked the Bulgarian Interior Ministry whether its elements were responsible for the leak, but the ministry did not answer the BBC’s question.
None of the law enforcement officers who attended the meeting could confirm how the information leaked.
Europol told the BBC it was investigating, adding that “this scenario is complicated by the multiplicity of attendees at the meeting, which makes it difficult to uncover the truth.”
The United States Department of Justice and the New York Attorney General’s Office did not comment on the matter.
