Foreign media: The missing OneCoin 'encryption queen' Ruja Ignatova may be hiding in Russia

PANews reported on November 27th, according to Decrypt, a BBC investigative journalist focusing on Kremlin affairs reported that the missing ‘encryption queen’ Ruja Ignatova may be hiding in Russia to evade criminal charges. Yoran Tsalov, who also works for Bellingcat, revealed to the media that Ignatova “is associated with several individuals and interest groups in the Kremlin”. Tsalov claimed that these connections were confirmed during an interview with BBC by Ignatova’s former security advisor Frank Schneider, as part of the BBC’s ‘The Missing Encryption Queen’ investigation and podcast series. Schneider, a former spy in Switzerland, later founded a private investigation company and was hired by OneCoin. Due to his involvement, he was detained in France and subsequently went into hiding in 2023. In addition, Tsalov claimed that the investigation being conducted by BBC confirms that some companies involved in OneCoin Money Laundering are linked to the former pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich. Yanukovich is currently living in exile in Russia. It is reported that OneCoin was launched in 2014. Ignatova swindled investors worldwide through a $4 billion Ponzi Scheme until the eyewash was exposed in 2017, when she disappeared. Her last appearance was in 2017, when she was on a plane fleeing Bulgaria for Athens, Greece, and was placed on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list.