Foreign media: The missing OneCoin "Crypto Queen" Ruja Ignatova may be hiding in Russia

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, reports from a BBC investigative journalist focused on Kremlin affairs that the missing "Crypto Queen" Ruja Ignatova may be hiding in Russia to evade criminal charges. Yoran Tsalov, who also works for Bellingcat, revealed to the media that Ignatova "has connections with multiple individuals and interest groups within the Kremlin."

Tsalov claims that these connections were confirmed during an interview with Ignatova's former security advisor Frank Schneider, which was part of the BBC's "The Missing Crypto Queen" investigation and podcast series. Schneider, a former spy in Switzerland, later founded a private investigation company and was employed by OneCoin. He was placed under house arrest in France due to his association with the operation and subsequently went on the run in 2023. Additionally, Tsalov claims that the ongoing BBC investigation confirms that some companies laundering money through OneCoin are linked to former pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, who is currently living in exile in Russia.

OneCoin reportedly launched in 2014, with Ignatova defrauding investors worldwide through a $4 billion Ponzi scheme until the scheme collapsed in 2017, at which point she disappeared. She was last seen in 2017, boarding a flight from Bulgaria to Athens, Greece, and has been placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.