A joint-statement from Bulgarian and US authorities has revealed plans for the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office to charge Ruja Ignatova in absentia.

The FBI is also upping its bounty on information that leads to Ignatova’s arrest to $5 million.

As reported by Novinite on June 26th;

At a joint press conference in the Courthouse, Chief Prosecutor Borislav Sarafov, US Ambassador Kenneth Merten, and State Agency “National Security” Head Plamen Tonchev outlined the collaboration between Bulgaria and the US in investigating criminal activities related to OneCoin.

The specifics of the charges against Ignatova under Bulgarian law were not disclosed during the conference, which did not include a Q&A session with journalists.

The announcement coincides with the FBI upping its previous $250,000 bounty on Ignatova to $5 million.

The United States Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ruja Ignatova.

Ruja Ignatova is the founder of OneCoin, a multi-billion dollar MLM crypto Ponzi. OneCoin collapsed in 2017 and Ruja Ignatova hasn’t been seen since she disappeared in October that year.

Leading theories are that the Bulgarian mafia had Ignatova murdered on a yacht, or that she’s hiding in Dubai or Russia.

The elephant in the room for Bulgarian authorities is OneCoin’s still operational headquarters in Sofia. A BehindMLM reader observed the offices this week and provided an interesting account.

Ownership has been divested into shell companies with “new owners and managers” but the companies are still

connected directly or through proxies to Ruzha Ignatova during One Coin’s expansion.

Pressing charges against someone in absentia is easy. Personally I won’t believe Bulgarian authorities are taking OneCoin seriously till the Sofia office is shut down.

That and investigating and pressing charges against Christophoros Amanatidis-Taki, a Bulgarian national hiding in Dubai.

If Ruja Ignatova is dead, Taki, reported to be the head of the Bulgarian mafia, is believed to have ordered the hit.

Taki is suspected of being the primary beneficiary of the billions laundered through OneCoin that remain unaccounted for.

If Ruja Ignatova is alive, Taki, along with Frank Schneider, Ignatova’s personal spy-master and a wanted fugitive, are believed to know where she is.

 

Update 12th August 2024 – Bulgarian authorities have indicted Ruja Ignatova.