In Pursuit with John Walsh on ID: Is Ruja Ignatova alive or dead?

The curious case of Ruja Ignatova is the focus of episode 6 of In Pursuit With John Walsh season 5. While the US Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to look for the high-profile swindler who owned OneCoin, Ignatova's whereabouts have been unknown since 2017.

According to BBC News, the report prepared by the investigative news agency BIRD gathered from a leaked Bulgarian police report alleged that Ignatova had been executed on the orders of the drug lord, Taki or Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis. However, Ignatova remains part of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted owing to lack of definitive proof.

The new episode of In Pursuit With John Walsh titled Crypto Queenpin showcases the outrageous story of Ruja Ignatova, who took a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens in October 2017 and was never seen again. It airs on June 19, 2024, at 10 p.m. EST on Investigation Discovery. The official synopsis reads:

"John takes on accused financial fraudster Ruja Ignatova, whose alleged crypto con landed her on the FBI's top ten most wanted list."

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When did Ruja Ignatova disappear?

Ruja Ignatova founded the fraudulent cryptocurrency pyramid scheme named OneCoin which scammed worldwide investors of approximately $4 billion.

As suspicions began to grow around the legitimacy of the transactions and missing blockchain registrations for the currency, a secret warrant was issued by the United States for Ruja, her brother, and personal assistant, Konstantin Ignatov.

As Konstantin was grilled by the United States authorities, Ruja was tipped off about the growing tensions and reportedly fled from Sofia, Bulgaria to Athens, Greece.

Per CNN Business, Ruja Ignatova was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The FBI’s assistant director-in-charge in New York, Michael Driscoll, reportedly shared:

“She left with a tremendous amount of cash. Money can buy a lot of friends, and I would imagine she’s taking advantage of that.”

While Konstantin Ignatov and the lead distributor of OneCoin, Sebastian Greenwood, continued to face the brunt of multiple law enforcement agencies, Ruja Ignatova collected her wealth and was never to be seen again since October 25, 2017.

She was listed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted in June 2022, according to the United States Attorneys Office Southern District of New York.

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Did Taki or Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis kill Ruja Ignatova?

The law enforcement authorities had suspected the involvement of the Bulgarian crime lord, Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis or Taki, in the disappearance of Ruja Ignatova. The BBC News reported that the Bulgarian police had established connections between the two before she vanished from common sight in 2017.

Moreover, multiple recent reports have suspected that Taki had used the financial network of OneCoin to launder his money. Richard Reinhardt, the prime investigator into the OneCoin scam, shared in a BBC interview following his retirement in late 2023:

“We were told, allegedly a big-time drug guy was in charge of her physical security. Taki came up more than once, it wasn’t like it was a one-off. That was a recurring theme.”

A 2023 report by the Bureau of Investigative Reporting and Data - BIRD suggested that Ignatova had been allegedly executed, dismembered, and thrown into the Ionian Sea on Taki's command in November 2018.

The account was allegedly part of leaked Bulgarian police documents mentioning a drunken exchange by Taki's brother-in-law, Georgi Vasilev. However, the claims could not be officially confirmed and remains to be speculations, due to lack of definite evidence.

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Catch all the details in the new episode of In Pursuit with John Walsh as it airs on Investigation Discovery on Wednesday.