One conspiracy theory that has intrigued enthusiasts around the world for generations is the DB Cooper Escape. For those who don’t know, DB Cooper was the media moniker given to a man who demanded $200,000 in ransom and then opened the aircraft’s door and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington, US. Despite numerous suspects and a manhunt for years by the FBI, DB Cooper’s body or whereabouts were never ascertained. It was never discovered whether DB Cooper lived or died, or who was the mysterious gentleman who disappeared into the night. The DB Cooper case took place in 1968 but like Cooper, there was another extraordinary criminal who simply disappeared into thin air: Ruja Ignatova.
Ruja Ignatova made billions with a fraudulent crypto-currency before she suddenly vanished in 2017. A new BBC investigation tries to find out if she was murdered or just diseappeared. Ruja Ignatova was born in Bulgaria and raised in Germany, ostensibly pursuing a successful career in finance before being charged with financial fraud in Germany in 2012.
She later returned with OneCoin, a fraudulent, non-existent crypto currency that was pegged as a Bitcoin killer. Between August 2014 and March 2017, people from across the globe, from Brazil to Yemen, invested in OneCoin. An FBI estimate puts the total amount invested at $4.5 billion.
Millions donated before they realised that OneCoin wasn’t a cryptocurrency, doesn’t even have a blockchain and wasn’t a currency that could be used anywhere. FBI says OneCoin claimed to have a “private blockchain”. Actually, it when OneCoin users logged in to check their wallets, they’d simply see random numbers on a screen.
In early 2019, she was charged by US authorities for wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. She was added to FBI’s 10 Most Wanted in June 2022.
In 2017, as investigators from Germany and the US closed in, Ignatova took an early morning Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens and was never seen again. Most of her alleged collaborators were arrested including OneCoin’s co-founder Sebastian Greenwood. He was detained in Thailand in 2018 and extradited to the US. Meanwhile, Ignatova’s younger brother Konstantin Ignatov was arrested in March 2019 in Los Angeles. He pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges. Mark Scott, a former corporate lawyer was convicted in 2019 for laundering $400milion for the group. But Ignatova’s remained elusive.
However, a recent BBC investigation claims that that a top mafia figure in Bulgaria, a business associate who was kept her safe might have been responsible for her murder. His name is Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, better known as Taki, who has a El Chapo-like image in his native Bulgaria.
Over the years, Taki has been accused of numerous crimes including armed robbery, drug smuggling, and murder, but was never prosecuted in Bulgaria.
Former Bulgarian Deputy Minister Ivan Hristanov said in 2022: “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. The only person who can protect her from all those investigations, including from foreign agencies – it was Taki.”
Taki, it’s believed now lives in Dubai, where Ignatova has a luxury penthouse and where her bank accounts received millions from the OneCoin fraud. Sources claim the two were close and Taki was even the godfather to Ignatova’s daughter. Frank Schneider, a former adviser to Ruja Ignatova, claimed his old boss was working with “gangsters”.
A few months after talking to BBC, Schneider also disappeared. Meanwhile, document found at the home of murdered Bulgarian officer by Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Stoyanov of BIRD, an investigative website stated that a police informant had overheard Taki’s brother-in-law say that Taki had murdered, dismembered and dumped Ignatov off a yacht in the Ionian sea.
Kuro, another associate of Taki was found assassinated in his Cape Town home in May 2023.
Stoyanov, who was forced to leave Bulgaria after getting death threats, says property records show that Ignatova’s properties are now used by Taki and his associates in Bulgaria. However, Taki has never been arrested over the claims, Ignatova’s body was never discovered, and investigators don’t believe there’s enough to prosecute him.
Only time will tell if Ignatova was murdered, whether she disappeared or it might not, and we might never learn her fate. Just like we never found out about DB Cooper.
Ruja Ignatova made billions with a fraudulent crypto-currency before she suddenly vanished in 2017. A new BBC investigation tries to find out if she was murdered or just diseappeared. Ruja Ignatova was born in Bulgaria and raised in Germany, ostensibly pursuing a successful career in finance before being charged with financial fraud in Germany in 2012.
She later returned with OneCoin, a fraudulent, non-existent crypto currency that was pegged as a Bitcoin killer. Between August 2014 and March 2017, people from across the globe, from Brazil to Yemen, invested in OneCoin. An FBI estimate puts the total amount invested at $4.5 billion.
Millions donated before they realised that OneCoin wasn’t a cryptocurrency, doesn’t even have a blockchain and wasn’t a currency that could be used anywhere. FBI says OneCoin claimed to have a “private blockchain”. Actually, it when OneCoin users logged in to check their wallets, they’d simply see random numbers on a screen.
In early 2019, she was charged by US authorities for wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. She was added to FBI’s 10 Most Wanted in June 2022.
In 2017, as investigators from Germany and the US closed in, Ignatova took an early morning Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens and was never seen again. Most of her alleged collaborators were arrested including OneCoin’s co-founder Sebastian Greenwood. He was detained in Thailand in 2018 and extradited to the US. Meanwhile, Ignatova’s younger brother Konstantin Ignatov was arrested in March 2019 in Los Angeles. He pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges. Mark Scott, a former corporate lawyer was convicted in 2019 for laundering $400milion for the group. But Ignatova’s remained elusive.
However, a recent BBC investigation claims that that a top mafia figure in Bulgaria, a business associate who was kept her safe might have been responsible for her murder. His name is Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, better known as Taki, who has a El Chapo-like image in his native Bulgaria.
Over the years, Taki has been accused of numerous crimes including armed robbery, drug smuggling, and murder, but was never prosecuted in Bulgaria.
Former Bulgarian Deputy Minister Ivan Hristanov said in 2022: “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. The only person who can protect her from all those investigations, including from foreign agencies – it was Taki.”
Taki, it’s believed now lives in Dubai, where Ignatova has a luxury penthouse and where her bank accounts received millions from the OneCoin fraud. Sources claim the two were close and Taki was even the godfather to Ignatova’s daughter. Frank Schneider, a former adviser to Ruja Ignatova, claimed his old boss was working with “gangsters”.
A few months after talking to BBC, Schneider also disappeared. Meanwhile, document found at the home of murdered Bulgarian officer by Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Stoyanov of BIRD, an investigative website stated that a police informant had overheard Taki’s brother-in-law say that Taki had murdered, dismembered and dumped Ignatov off a yacht in the Ionian sea.
Kuro, another associate of Taki was found assassinated in his Cape Town home in May 2023.
Stoyanov, who was forced to leave Bulgaria after getting death threats, says property records show that Ignatova’s properties are now used by Taki and his associates in Bulgaria. However, Taki has never been arrested over the claims, Ignatova’s body was never discovered, and investigators don’t believe there’s enough to prosecute him.
Only time will tell if Ignatova was murdered, whether she disappeared or it might not, and we might never learn her fate. Just like we never found out about DB Cooper.
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