Onecoin Cryptoqueen’s ex-boyfriend gets 5 years in prison – Bitcoin News

A former lover of Ruja Ignatova, the mastermind of the Onecoin Ponzi scheme, has been sentenced to five years in prison. The conviction is for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars worth of proceeds from the infamous crypto scam that defrauded investors worldwide.

Ruja’s ex-girlfriend convicted of money laundering related to Onecoin

Gilbert Armenta, the ex-boyfriend of crypto pyramid Onecoin founder Ruja Ignatova, has been sentenced in the United States, Bloomberg Law reported. According to court documents, he helped launder $300 million of the proceeds of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in crypto history.

In 2018, Armenta, now 59, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering, all in connection with Onecoin. He cooperated with prosecutors in the fraud investigation for about two years, but later committed other crimes and broke the deal.

Founded in 2014, Onecoin operated as a global multi-level marketing network, which was based on a cryptocurrency that never really existed as such, despite being advertised as the “Bitcoin killer.” According to Onecoin’s own documents, more than 3 million people have invested over $4 billion in Onecoin since 2016.

Bulgarian-born German citizen Ruja Ignatova disappeared in October 2017, when she boarded a Ryanair flight in Sofia bound for Athens. Still, by the way, she is wanted by Interpol, Europol and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Her brother and co-founder, Konstantin, who was detained in Los Angeles in 2019, pleaded guilty to charges related to Onecoin and sought witness protection in the United States. In December 2022, another co-founder, British and Swedish citizen Karl Sebastian Greenwood, also pleaded guilty for his part in the fraud.

Crypto Pyramid Mastermind Ruja Ignatova Still Missing

Information about Ignatova’s whereabouts and activities has periodically appeared in media reports. Last July, leading Greek newspaper Kathimerini revealed that Greek police had attempted to locate and arrest her, acting on intelligence indicating she was in the country and holding meetings with unidentified people.

In January of this year, British media revealed that a $15 million apartment purchased by the “missing Cryptoqueen” through a company based on the island of Guernsey had been offered for sale. A BBC report on the matter revealed that the Kensington penthouse had been built with the approval of authorities in Germany.

Prosecutors in the city of Bielefeld have accused a German lawyer who worked for Ignatova, Martin Breidenbach, of money laundering for transferring 20 million euros (over $21 million) for the purchase of the four-bedroom apartment. In October, he appeared in court, along with two Onecoin employees, to face charges of fraud and other crimes.

Do you think law enforcement will eventually find Onecoin founder Ruja Ignatova? Share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.