Authorities in a number of countries around the world are still searching for Ruja Ignatova - more than a year after German prosecutors brought charges against her for her alleged role in the fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme "Onecoin" (Onecoin), DPA reported.
The whereabouts of Ignatova, who has been wanted for years, remain unknown.
Today, the Bielefeld prosecutor's office announced that it had managed to seize around 10.1 million euros from the assets of the self-proclaimed "crypto queen".
The money comes from the sale of two apartments in London and will be used to compensate the victims.
The authorities brought charges against Ignatova in September 2025 to prevent the alleged fraud crimes from becoming statute-barred. The crimes she is accused of will expire in 2031.
The indictment names around 17,500 victims and estimates the total amount of damages at 57 million euros, covering a period of criminal activity between 2015 and 2016.
It is believed that millions of investors worldwide were affected, with the total amount of damages amounting to several billion euros. According to the indictment, the defendant created a fraudulent pyramid scheme to promote the cryptocurrency she invented.
Her company was headquartered in the city of Greven, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Ignatova traveled from Sofia to Athens on October 25, 2017, and has not been heard from since. She remains on the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Europol's lists of internationally wanted persons.
An international manhunt is underway, including the distribution of photographs of Ignatova. The German prosecutor's office is calling on anyone with information about the whereabouts of the accused to contact the criminal police in Düsseldorf.