Ruja Ignatova, widely known as the “Cryptoqueen,” has been missing since 2017, prompting a global effort from investigative authorities to uncover her whereabouts.
On August 7, the United Kingdom’s High Court of Justice issued a Worldwide Freezing Order against Ignatova and several of her alleged accomplices involved in the infamous OneCoin pyramid scheme.
Court’s Decision to Freeze Assets
The court’s decision followed a petition from more than 400 victims of the OneCoin collapse, who sought to freeze the assets of Ruja Ignatova as well as those of OneCoin co-founder Sebastian Greenwood, Christopher Hamilton, and Robert MacDonald. These individuals are purported to have aided in laundering funds tied to OneCoin. Additionally, a number of influencers who had promoted OneCoin to the public were included in the order.
The asset freeze extends to the business entities allegedly employed by Ruja Ignatova to launder OneCoin funds and acquire various assets. This legal action seeks to ensure that the parties involved cannot move or dissipate their assets as investigations continue.
The Rise and Fall of OneCoin
Ruja Ignatova’s saga began with the launch of OneCoin in 2014, which has been alleged to be a colossal $4 billion Ponzi scheme that deceived thousands of investors. The fraudulent scheme crumbled in 2017, leading to Ignatova’s disappearance after she was last seen in Athens, Greece. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) subsequently placed her on its Ten Most Wanted list following her flight from justice.
In January 2024, the United States State Department announced a reward of $5 million for any information leading to Ruja Ignatova’s capture and conviction. However, alleged sightings of the Cryptoqueen remain unverified, and her current location continues to be a mystery.
As the hunt for Ruja Ignatova persists, some of her associates have already faced legal repercussions. Konstantin Ignatov, Ruja’s brother, was arrested and pled guilty to charges of money laundering and fraud in 2019. Initially facing a potential sentence of 90 years, he was released after three years when he cooperated with U.S. investigators and testified against OneCoin lawyer Mark Scott.
Source: FBI
In 2019, Scott was convicted on multiple charges including bank fraud and money laundering. His sentence was significantly less than the 17 years prosecutors had sought. Another key player in the scheme, OneCoin co-founder Karl Greenwood, was convicted in 2023 and received a 20-year sentence for his role in the fraud, in addition to being ordered to forfeit $300 million obtained through facilitating the scheme.
Recent Developments in the Cryptocurrency World
In another unfolding story in the cryptocurrency space, Nexera, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, recently dealt with a significant security breach. In a response to the hack, which occurred on August 7, Nexera announced that it had burned 32.5 million of its NXRA tokens involved in the incident as part of its recovery measures aimed at bolstering security and restoring confidence in its platform.
According to PeckShieldAlert, a blockchain security firm, the burned tokens have been permanently removed from circulation, signaling an important step toward maintaining the integrity of the Nexera protocol following the exploit. The company held that its technical investigation revealed that its smart contracts had not been compromised during the incident.
In light of the hack’s aftermath, Nexera took further action by freezing the remaining 32.5 million NXRA tokens in the attacker’s wallet; the team determined that only around $440,000 of the NXRA tokens transferred were effectively compromised. The decision to burn the tokens was vital for preserving the stability of the Nexera ecosystem and ensuring that the stolen and frozen assets could not be used or circulated within the market.
Recent Crypto Breaches
The exploit on Nexera resulted in the theft of approximately $1.5 million worth of digital assets, including NXRA tokens, after attackers executed a coordinated attack that also affected multiple projects and protocols. During the hack, 47 million NXRA tokens valued at about $1.76 million were stolen, and portions of these assets were sold for Ether (ETH).
In response to the widespread attack, Nexera advised users against trading, especially since the attacker had interacted with addresses tied to exchanges such as KuCoin and MEXC. These exchanges promptly suspended their services, including deposits, withdrawals, and trading, to mitigate any further risks. Additional exchanges were also alerted and encouraged to take protective measures.
This incident at Nexera followed a notable breach at WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, which experienced over $230 million in losses to hackers just weeks prior. This marked Nexera’s breach as the second-largest crypto hack of 2024 to date, underscoring the heightened challenges faced by the crypto sector as it grapples with security concerns and the ramifications of fraudulent schemes like OneCoin. Stay tuned for more updates on this evolving story on the Turkish NY Radio.
