The ex-husband of the missing Bulgarian woman Ruzha Ignatova, known as the “crypto queen“, is facing charges of money laundering related to financial flows from the large-scale OneCoin pyramid scheme. 50-year-old German lawyer Bjorn S. is at the center of a case that once again draws attention to Ignatova's inner circle and to what extent people around her were aware of the criminal origin of the funds, reports the German publication Diebewertung, reports Focus.
According to the prosecutor's office, the case is related to suspicious transactions worth around 16 million euros. Investigators say the money reached Björn S.'s accounts through a company based in Hong Kong.
The prosecutor's office is also investigating the purchase of a luxury villa in Bad Homburg for over 7 million euros. There are suspicions that the property was financed with funds originating from OneCoin. A security mortgage has already been imposed on the villa.
Björn S. has not been convicted of participating in the financial fraud itself, and the court has yet to determine whether the money laundering charges brought against him are provable. He is presumed innocent until a final verdict is rendered.
The main question before the magistrates is whether the lawyer, who attended a number of public and business events related to OneCoin, knew about the criminal origin of the funds used.
“It all depends on what he knew about the origin of certain funds and whether he was aware that they might have been acquired through criminal activity“, German lawyers note.
The scale of OneCoinThe OneCoin scheme began in 2014 with promises of revolutionizing the financial world and competing with Bitcoin. However, law enforcement agencies later declared it one of the largest pyramid schemes in history.
According to the US Department of Justice, between the end of 2014 and the end of 2016 alone, over 4 billion euros passed through the system, involving at least 3.5 million victims worldwide. The net profit from the scheme amounted to 2.735 billion euros.
Ruzha Ignatova remains missingRuzha Ignatova has been missing since October 25, 2017, when she was traveling by plane from Sofia to Athens. The flight took place just days after secret charges were filed against her in the US.
Since June 2022, Ignatova has been on the FBI's list of 10 most wanted fugitives. The reward for information leading to her arrest has now reached $5 million.
The FBI continues to consider her a fugitive alive, despite unofficial theories that she may have been murdered or is living under a new identity.
Meanwhile, some of the key figures in the scheme are already serving sentences. OneCoin co-founder and Ignatova's former intimate partner Sebastian Greenwood was arrested in Thailand in 2018 and then extradited to the United States.
In September 2023, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting to receiving over $300 million from the fraudulent network.