Ruja Ignatova - ‘crypto queen’

In 2014, Ruja Ignatova, Sebastian Greenwood, and Konstantin Ignatov launched a project called Onecoin. It was a classic ponzi scheme. In late 2019, the remnants of Onecoin imploded. US prosecutors alleged the scheme brought in $4b world-wide. Ruja Ignatova disappeared in 2017 near the time a secret US warrant was filed for her arrest. Greenwood was arrested in 2018, Ignatov in March 2019.

In November 2019 Ignatov pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and fraud. The maximum sentence is 90 years in prison.