Victims Of FBI's Most Wanted 'Cryptoqueen' In $4B Scam Set For Compensation After A Decade

• The US Department of Justice opened a claims process on Monday, allowing victims of the $4 billion OneCoin Ponzi scheme to seek compensation from recovered funds.
• OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova promoted the token as a “Bitcoin killer” before disappearing in 2017.
• U.S. authorities have secured convictions against key figures, including the co-founder and former legal head, with 20 and 4-year prison sentences, respectively.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday the launch of a remission process allowing victims of the OneCoin scam to apply for compensation from forfeited assets, in a case tied to ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova.

The funds are derived from criminal forfeiture actions related to federal prosecutions in the Southern District of New York. Authorities say the OneCoin Ponzi scheme duped investors of more than $4 billion worldwide, involving victims in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and China. A part of the seized money, which presently exceeds $40 million, will be made available to qualified claimants who file applications by June 30.

Rise Of The ‘Cryptoqueen’ And OneCoin’s Collapse

According to a 2019 BBC report, Ignatova branded herself the “Cryptoqueen” and launched OneCoin in 2014. She promoted it as a direct rival to Bitcoin (BTC), which sparked a frenzy in the market at the time. 

The report explained that she described the token as a “Bitcoin killer,” claiming it would become the world’s leading cryptocurrency, beating Bitcoin, which was valued at over $500 per coin at the time. However, investigators later found that OneCoin had no underlying blockchain and operated entirely as a global Ponzi scheme. Docuseries “Fugitive: The Mystery of the Cryptoqueen,” was also created on Ignatova.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price was trading at $75,631 on Tuesday morning, gaining over 5% over the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BTC moved to 'bullish' from the ‘neutral’ zone, while chatter stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.

Charges, Disappearance, And Ongoing Manhunt

US prosecutors charged Ignatova in October 2017 with wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. Ignatova, who had worked as a consultant at an MBB firm before founding OneCoin, disappeared only 2 weeks later. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) placed her on its “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, while offering a reward of up to $5 million for any information on her.

The DOJ said on Monday that victims who purchased OneCoin during the scheme’s operation between 2014 and 2019 could now file claims as part of the remission process.

OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood pleaded guilty in December 2022 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $300 million in penalties. Additionally, OneCoin’s former head of legal and compliance, Irina Dilkinska, was also sentenced to four years in prison in April 2024 and ordered to forfeit $111.44 million after pleading guilty to related charges. However, ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova is yet to be found. 

One Of The Largest Crypto Fraud Cases

The OneCoin case remains one of the “largest global fraud schemes” linked to cryptocurrency. Similar cases emerged in recent years, including BitConnect, a crypto lending platform that collapsed in 2018 and was later found to have operated as a Ponzi scheme. U.S. authorities have since pursued enforcement actions and initiated efforts to return a portion of recovered funds to affected investors.

The development from the DOJ also aligns with recommendations in the White House’s July digital assets report released last year, which said victim-compensation rules should be updated to improve asset-forfeiture efforts in the digital assets space.

Read also: This Small-Cap Stock Is Riding Crypto.com Into A $1 Trillion Opportunity

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