German authorities have officially filed charges against the self-proclaimed "crypto queen" Ruja Ignatova, who has been wanted for years for her alleged role in the OneCoin cryptocurrency fraud scheme, BTA reported.
According to the Bielefeld prosecutor's office, 45-year-old Ignatova, who holds Bulgarian and German citizenship, created a financial pyramid through which the virtual currency was distributed. She is on both the FBI's list of the ten most wanted criminals and among Europol's most wanted persons.
Her company was registered in the western German town of Greven. In October 2017 Ignatova disappeared without a trace after a flight from Sofia to Athens and has not been found by the authorities since.
The indictment aims to prevent the statute of limitations on the alleged crimes from running out, explained the head of the prosecutor's office, Carsten Nowak. If the Bielefeld district court proceeds with the case, the statute of limitations will be extended by five years. By which time investigators hope Ignatova will be detained.
The voluminous, 600-page indictment lists 17,500 victims and damages of nearly 57 million euros. The prosecutor's office is focusing on the period 2015-2016, but according to investigators, the total number of affected investors worldwide reaches millions and the damages billions of euros.
Police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia announced that assets worth about 28 million euros were confiscated during the investigation.