R90m reward: What you need to know about the FBI’s most wanted woman ‘hiding in SA’

Who needs the Lotto Jackpot to become an instant multimillionaire when a staggering $5 million (about R90.7 million) reward is on the table for information leading to the arrest of the infamous “Cryptoqueen” Dr Ruja Ignatova?

Since the ’80s, South Africa has become a haven for international fugitives, including the likes of Czech crime boss Radovan Krejcir, Yuri “The Russian” Ulianitski and “Steroid King” Brian Wainstein whose ongoing murder trial featured slain underworld kingpin Mark Lifman as prime suspect.

According to fresh leads, it appears that Ignatova – the 44-year-old Bulgarian-German fugitive – has followed in their footsteps and is currently residing in Cape Town.

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‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova: World’s most wanted woman…

The self-styled Cryptoqueen is arguably the world’s most wanted woman whose sophisticated criminal exploits have been true-crime gold for various documentaries and Jamie Bartlett’s bestseller, The Missing Cryptoqueen.

In 2014, the glamorous Oxford-educated businesswoman became the face of OneCoin aka “The Bitcoin Killer” that swindled thousands of people out of billions.

The OneCoin scheme turned out to be a multibillion-dollar scam that combined a bogus currency with a cult-like recruitment programme that fed into a pyramid scheme.

According to The Guardian, Ignatova was allegedly the front person for the scheme run by “shadowy people and criminal groups”.

Ignatova on the run

She fled in 2017 on a flight from Sofia in Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, disappearing with riches she is believed to have stashed across the globe, and leaving her lover, brother and business partners to face criminal prosecutions, according to Bartlett’s book.

The author also reports on rumours that Ignatova underwent extensive plastic surgery and is using an alias.

He claims that he tracked her from Greece to Dubai to France to a yacht cruising around the Mediterranean. 

Cryptoqueen claims spot on FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list

Since the trail went cold, she has been placed on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Ten Most Wanted list accused of wire fraud and money laundering.

Cryptoqueen ‘chopped into pieces’?

Authorities’ Cape Town-focused investigation follows years of speculation about her disappearance, including a rather chilling murder mystery twist.

According to an earlier CoinGeek report, Ignatova was rumoured to have been “chopped into pieces” by former accomplices from the Bulgarian underworld and dumped into the Ionian Sea in 2018.

Research by broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk for the recent documentary series Die Kryptoqueen and an article by Der Spiegel on 8 November 2024, revealed that German police now believe reports of her death were false.

Ignatova might be living it up in Cape Town

Luxembourg Times reported last week that a spokesperson for the State Office of Criminal Investigation in Düsseldorf, Daniela Dässel, revealed that there are indications that Ignatova may have been hiding out since 2022 in a heavily guarded neighbourhood in Cape Town, which is home to many wealthy exiled Bulgarians.

Alleged links to slain Bulgarian fugitive Krasimir Kamenov

The news of Ignatova’s possible hideout in Cape Town has sparked fresh intrigue and revived some theories which previously suggested that Ignatova might have had some ties with the Interpol fugitive Krasimir “Karo” Kamenov.

The Citizen previously reported on the execution-style murder of Kamenov, his wife Gergana and two of their employees in his Constantia home in May 2023.

At the time of his death, Kamenov was wanted in Bulgaria in connection with a murder.

Theories about why the four were murdered ranged from Kamenov’s name surfacing in international state capture-type plots, to local gangsters targeting him as part of a robbery, and possible ties to dodgy diamond dealings.

According to Cape Town Etc, it later came to light on 12 June 2023 that Kamenov had ties to Ignatova.

What Kamenov told the police

Before he was murdered, Kamenov had been named in a conspiracy against Bulgaria’s public prosecutor, which hinted at the presence of criminal elements within Bulgaria’s government.

Kamenov was wanted in connection with the assassination of a former policeman, Lyubomir Ivanov, in Sofia in March 2022.

Documents found in Ivanov’s home after his murder suggested that Ignatova herself may have been killed in November 2018, but there was no official confirmation of her death at the time.

After Kamenov’s murder in 2023, the Bureau of Investigative Reporting and Data in Bulgaria revealed that he had been their source for police reports regarding Ignatova’s alleged murder.

In addition, they also claimed that Kamenov was about to “provide additional information” to US investigators at the time of his death.

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