Guernsey Seizes $11.4M in OneCoin Fraud as Cryptoqueen’s Empire Crumbles

Guernsey has recovered over £8.5 million, or about $11.4 million, of cash related to the OneCoin fraud, which is likely one of the most tangible monetary recoveries to this point linked with the case of fugitive founder Ruja Ignatova, also referred to as the “Cryptoqueen.”

The ruling provides contemporary weight to worldwide efforts to dismantle what stays of OneCoin’s monetary footprint, at the same time as its mastermind has been lacking for greater than eight years.

In keeping with the report issued by the Guernsey Press, the Royal Courtroom of Guernsey agreed to an abroad forfeiture order sought by German prosecutors within the metropolis of Bielefeld.

The choice of the court docket was that the cash within the title of Aquitaine Group Restricted held in Guernsey within the account of RBS Worldwide, which amounted to £8.59 million plus amassed curiosity, was below the management of Ignatova and that it ought to be seized.

The cash is now within the Seized Asset Fund of Guernsey, the place it’s to be utilized primarily to recompense victims and help regulation enforcement.

How OneCoin’s Pretend Crypto Path Led to £8.8M in Seized Property

Ignatova was a Bulgarian-born German citizen who established OneCoin in 2014 and marketed it to the world as a disruptive cryptocurrency and a killer of Bitcoin.

In apply, prosecutors subsequently confirmed that OneCoin didn’t even have an working blockchain or working mining process however was a multi-level advertising enterprise the place returns had been sponsored by further deposits of recent traders.

The FBI estimates that traders worldwide misplaced greater than $4 billion, although some assessments place complete losses larger.

The Royal Courtroom famous that Ignatova was given 28 days in November to object to the confiscation software.

There was no reply since Ignatova had not appeared in public since October 2017, when she vanished days after a sealed arrest warrant was issued in the US.

She was subsequently the one feminine ever to be listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wished Fugitives checklist, and authorities in the US had been prepared to pay a reward of as much as $5 million for info resulting in her arrest.

German prosecutors, working with Guernsey authorities, have been in search of to get better proceeds from the sale of two London flats beforehand owned by Ignatova via Guernsey-registered corporations.

The properties, a penthouse and a smaller condo, had been positioned below a Royal Courtroom restraint order in November 2021 and later bought for greater than £11 million.

After charges and taxes, about £8.8 million remained as of Might 2024, forming the majority of the confiscated sum.

OneCoin’s Interior Circle Faces Justice as Ignatova Thriller Drags On

This newest motion suits right into a broader sample of asset restoration and authorized fallout that has continued years after OneCoin’s collapse.

A number of of Ignatova’s shut associates have been convicted and sentenced.

In 2023, co-founder Sebastian Greenwood was sentenced to twenty years in jail.

Different figures, together with senior authorized and monetary facilitators, have additionally been jailed.

On the identical time, questions on Ignatova’s destiny stay unresolved.

Investigative reporting, together with a 2023 and 2024 BBC investigation, has pointed to alleged hyperlinks between Ignatova and Bulgarian organized crime figures.

This determine consists of Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, generally known as “Taki,” who reportedly offered safety throughout her escape.

There have been some indications that she was presumably murdered in 2018, maybe on a yacht within the Ionian Sea, however regulation enforcement has emphasised that no concrete proof has been offered.

This has made worldwide companies nonetheless deal with her as a fugitive who should still be alive.

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