As I write this, official confirmation of Ruja Ignatova’s arrest has yet to surface.

Reports out of Germany are conflicting, with authorities yet to issue an official statement.

A few media publications have syndicated the initial Nbox article, but only the Gerlach Report and MLM Worldwide have published new information.

According to the Gerlach Report Ignatova was arrested in relation to an ongoing fraud investigation in Bielefeld.

Gerlach report claim Ignatova is being held in a “transport cell” at Stadelheim prison in Munich.

Ted Nuyten, who is believed to have received large sums of money from OneCoin and its affiliates in exchange for favorable coverage on BusinessForHome, was quick to dismiss Ignatova’s arrest as “fake news”.

In a Facebook post published the day after news of Ignatova’s arrest broke, Nuyten claimed his unnamed ‘sources (had) confirmed the news is NOT true.‘

Offering up a bit more information is a November 6th article from MLM Worldwide, who bill themselves as a direct selling online magazine.

In the article MLM Worldwide claim to have contacted the German law firm Schulenberg & Schenk.

Shortly after Germany’s top financial regulator Bafin announced an investigation into OneCoin in mid 2016, Schulenberg & Schenk were hired to publish a legal opinion on the company.

Not surprisingly, Schulenberg & Schenk’s legal opinion completely ignored the OneCoin’s Ponzi business model and claimed the company was legal in Germany.

OneCoin also engaged Schulenberg & Schenk were also used by OneCoin to go after rival Ponzi scheme, SwissCoin.

Despite Schulenberg & Schenk’s one-paragraph legal opinion stating the company was legal, earlier this year in April BaFin banned promotion and operation of OneCoin across Germany.

After news of Ignatova’s arrest broke, Stephan Schulenberg purportedly told MLM Worldwide they’d phoned Stadelheim prison and

can confirm that our client Dr. med. Ignatova was not detained there.

A telephone conversation with the public prosecutor’s office in Bielefeld also revealed that there is nothing there about an arrest and no arrest warrant (has been issued).

If Ignatova wasn’t arrested, why Schulenberg & Schenk didn’t just reach out to her directly is unclear.

Tim Curry separately reached out to German authorities on Monday and they wouldn’t confirm or deny Ignatova’s arrest.

The Gerlach Report meanwhile are insisting Ignatova’s arrest is not “fake news”.

The publication asks, “If Ruja Ignatova is indeed free, why does not she show herself?”

The fact is that the events at the airport in Munich have been confirmed by several sources.

The detention in the women’s detention center was also confirmed by The Gerlach Report.

It is also true that the investigating authorities have to date issued “no official press release”.

The Gerlach Report has learned this is due to “determination-technical reasons”.

Apparently, Dr. Ruja Ignatova – in an attempt to reduce her own expected punishment – (is delivering information on) the national (OneCoin) heads.

She is said to have already pointed out at first interrogations that “she has done everything to prohibit the fraudulent activities and actions of sales”.

Here, the “service instructions” of the fraud network were cited.

Whether this argument will work remains questionable.

Earlier today Jan Faber, Editor-in-Chief at the Gerlach Report, asserted the credibility of the publication’s reporting;

We stick to our story. Our sources are reliable. German news outlets will report once more information will be released.

Being a German story, this has broken on The Gerlach’s Report’s home turf. If this turns out to be another Macau debacle, maybe it’s time to reevaluate the publication’s publishing policy?

That said The Gerlach Report didn’t initially break news of Ignatova’s arrest, that was the Bulgarian publication Nbox.

Since then though the Gerlach Report have very much run with the story though and made it their own.

Personally, unlike Ted Nuyten, I’m skeptical but at this point not ready to dismiss either side. BehindMLM is just reporting what’s out there as it breaks.

Pending further information coming to light, I myself haven’t insisted Ignatova has or hasn’t been arrested.

The things that do strike me as strange though are:

  • Ignatova failing to issue a statement or recording despite news of her arrest breaking almost four days ago
  • both Schulenberg & Schenk and The Gerlach Report claiming access to what would be an ongoing operation pending charges filed
  • unnamed sources cited by Nbox, Ted Nuyten, The Gerlach Report and MLM Worldwide

I also haven’t ruled out the possibility that Pierre Arens may be cooperating with authorities following his abrupt departure last month, although that’s somewhat of a tangent.

Stay tuned…

 

Update 9th November 2017 – The Munich General Police Commissioner and Bielefeld and Munich Public Prosecutor’s Offices have each denied Ignatova was arrested last Saturday.