Great frauds in history: crypto-queen Ruja Ignatova and her “bitcoin killer”
Ruja Ignatova convinced punters to put up to $12bn into her worthless "OneCoin" cryptocurrency – then disappeared with the loot.
Ruja Ignatova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1980, before moving to Germany with her family when she was ten. In 2005 she was awarded a doctorate in law from the University of Konstanz. She went on to work for management consultancy McKinsey & Co in their eastern European office. In 2014 Ignatova set up OneCoin, which she claimed was a cryptocurrency that would become a “bitcoin killer”, and began promoting the currency at large public conferences around the world, including one at Wembley Stadium.
What was the scam?
What happened next?
Almost immediately after it began, OneCoin generated controversy with regulators around the world, who warned it could be a scam. Despite this, Ignatova’s charisma continued to lure in large amounts of money. Some likened the organisation to a cult. It was not until she mysteriously disappeared in 2017, just before she was due to give a talk, that the scheme started to unravel. Ignatova is still wanted by the US Department of Justice. Her brother Konstantin was convicted of fraud and money laundering last year, along with a number of other people connected to the scheme.
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Lessons for investors
Overall, the US authorities estimate that, between 2014 and 2017, OneCoin took in at least $4bn of investors’ money; some believe the final amount could be as much as $12bn.Investors are unlikely to get much of it back. One big red flag was the use of multi-level marketing techniques, where investors were encouraged to recruit friends and family into the scheme by giving them a small commission based on the additional money that was invested. Many of these commission payments were reinvested in OneCoin.
-
Boost for over 100,000 families on Child Benefit as new HMRC payment system rolled outThousands of households will no longer have to pay the dreaded High Income Child Benefit Charge through self-assessment
-
Are you being haunted by the ghost of Christmas past? How festive cutbacks could boost your long-term wealthThe average family spends around £1,000 over the Christmas season. Here’s how much you could have gained if you had invested some of the money instead.
-
Luana Lopes Lara: The ballerina who made a billion from prediction marketsLuana Lopes Lara trained at the Bolshoi, but hung up her ballet shoes when she had the idea of setting up a business in the prediction markets. That paid off
-
Who is Christopher Harborne, crypto billionaire and Reform UK’s new mega-donor?Christopher Harborne came into the spotlight when it emerged he had given £9 million to Nigel Farage's Reform UK. How did he make his millions?
-
Why Trustpilot is a stock to watch for exposure to the e-commerce marketTrustpilot has built a defensible position in one of the most critical areas of the internet: the infrastructure of trust, says Jamie Ward
-
The return of Erik Prince, America's notorious mercenaryErik Prince, founder of the controversial private military group Blackwater, was shunned for pushing the boundaries of legality. He has re-established himself
-
Big Short investor Michael Burry closes hedge fund Scion CapitalProfile Michael Burry rightly bet against the US mortgage market before the 2008 crisis. Now he is worried about the AI boom
-
Chen Zhi: the kingpin of a global conspiracyChen Zhi appeared to be a business prodigy investing in everything from real estate to airlines. Prosecutors allege he is the head of something more sinister
-
Who is Jared Isaacman, SpaceX astronaut and Trump's pick as NASA chief?Jared Isaacman is a close ally of Elon Musk and the first non-professional astronaut to walk in space. Now, he is in charge of NASA
-
Defeat into victory: the key to Next CEO Simon Wolfson's successOpinion Next CEO Simon Wolfson claims he owes his success to a book on military strategy in World War II. What lessons does it hold, and how did he apply them to Next?
