Ruja Ignatova, who is also known as the crypto queen, stole billions of dollars of customer money with OneCoin’s Ponzi scheme. He was declared missing in 2017, and since then there has been no information about his identity. However, after more than 5 years, the woman, who was also surrounded by the FBI, was able to give a sign of life.
It’s last week British newspaper iNews reported that the lawyers representing Ruja Ignatova have officially submitted a claim to Companies House for the ownership of a four-room penthouse apartment in Kensington, London. In the submitted document, the Bulgarian woman was listed as the beneficiary of the property.
In 2021, an investigation by the BBC with Jamie Bartlett, host of The Missing Cryptoqueen podcast, which sought to trace Ignatova and other members of OneCoin’s management, found that she was linked to an exclusive property in Kensington.
Ignatova reportedly stayed at the property briefly in 2016, but the apartment has been largely empty since then, apart from occasional visits by OneCoin-related individuals, including her brother Konstantin. He and OneCoin co-founder Sebastian Greenwood both pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in the United States.
The property also displays several works of art believed to have been purchased by or on behalf of Ignatova, including a signature portrait of Lenin by Andy Warhol. Private Eye previously estimated that the flat contained £500,000 worth of art, bought from London’s Halcyon gallery.
Proceedings regarding the purchase of the property are currently ongoing in Germany, where a lawyer linked to Ignatova is accused of money laundering, as he allegedly transferred funds from OneCoin investors to the purchase of the property.
The flat is officially owned by Abbots House Penthouse Limited, an anonymous Guernsey shell company, meaning that Ignatova’s name has not yet been required to appear on land registry deeds or public records.
Changes to Companies House rules, however, mean that UK-registered companies now have to name the beneficiaries of real estate. So it appears the fugitive has emerged from hiding to make an official claim to the London property.
Jamie Bartlett, who tried to track down Ignatova, said that’s the news “one of the most interesting developments in the story”.
“The world’s most wanted woman is now officially listed as the ultimate beneficiary of a London penthouse” he added.
“This suggests that he is still alive and that there are documents somewhere that contain important clues to his recent whereabouts. If nothing else, it will make it easier for the authorities to freeze his assets – and maybe even start returning the money to the victims.”
The FBI believes that the woman could have traveled to Athens with a German passport, and from there possibly to the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Russia, or even back to Bulgaria. The FBI is accusing the woman who was on the list of the world’s 10 most wanted criminals with a $4 billion cryptocurrency fraud.