“Taki came up more than once" - Richard Reinhardt reveals the drug kingpin's involvement in Ruja Ignatova's life

The disappearance of Ruja Ignatova, the owner and founder of OneCoin, allegedly had Taki, aka Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, play a big role in it. The drug lord and crime boss from Bulgaria reportedly assumed the role of Ignatova's safekeeping.

In 2019, the United States federal prosecutors mentioned the involvement of one of the most prolific drug traffickers in OneCoin's scam. This was followed by Richard Reinhardt's interview comment following his retirement. The primary investigator in the OneCoin case with the IRS and the FBI shared with BBC News,

"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."

The new episode of In Pursuit With John Walsh, titled Crypto Queenpin, explores the scam Ruja Ignatova ran with Taki's alleged help as it airs on June 19, 2024, at 10 pm EST on Investigation Discovery. The official synopsis of the episode reads,

"John takes on accused financial fraudster Ruja Ignatova, whose alleged crypto con landed her on the FBI's top ten most wanted list; Callahan heads to Pennsylvania on the trail of Freddy Calle, accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl."

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"Taki is the ghost. You'll never see him" - How was he involved in OneCoin's worldwide scam?

The OneCoin scam run by Ruja Ignatova allegedly had one of Bulgaria's biggest crimelords, Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, involved in their operations. While leaked Bulgarian police reports established the connection between Taki and Ignatova before her disappearance in 2017, it is unclear to what extent they shared their relationship.

The BBC interview by Reinhardt confirmed him to be head of security, while multiple US government officials and prosecutors alleged his involvement in her disappearance as well. The former Bulgarian deputy minister, Ivan Hristanov, who had suspected and investigated the crime lord's connections with corrupt officials, mentioned to BBC News,

"Taki is the ghost. You'll never see him. You only hear about him. He's talking to you through other people. If you don't listen, you just disappear from earth."

He further shared,

"The only person who can protect her [Ignatova] from all those investigations, including from foreign agencies - it was Taki."

Ruja Ignatova had fled Sofia, Bulgaria, in October 2017 after she was tipped off about rising suspicions around OneCoin and an imminent arrest warrant by US law enforcement. CNN Business reported that while Ruja fled with her wealth, Konstantin Ignatov, her brother and secretary, took a plea deal and faced the brunt of the investigations.

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How was Taki involved in Ruja Ignatova's life?

According to BBC News, multiple sources had confirmed that Ignatova and the Bulgarian crime boss shared a close personal relationship where the latter was the godfather to Ignatova's daughter. The Bulgarian officials had suspected Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis of laundering money through OneCoin's network.

Ignatova's advisor, Frank Schneider, had revealed that she had tried to sell a plot of land on the coast of the Black Sea in Bulgaria. Leaked Europol documents established connections between OneCoin and Amanatidis' wife through the land papers.

In addition to all this, Ignatova was alleged to have made monthly payments of €100,000 to him for protection.

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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, June 19, 2023.