The FBI’s newest podcast topic? The crypto queen on the run

Everyone has a podcast these days, but the US Federal Bureau of Investigation was an early adopter of the medium. Its popular monthly “Inside the FBI” podcast launched in 2008 and is currently ranked No. 11 among U.S. government podcasts on Apple, according to podcast analytics website Chartable.

This month’s edition is dedicated to “Crypto Queen” Ruja Ignatova, who has been on the loose since fleeing investors in the OneCoin scam in 2017. She entered the FBI’s infamous Ten Most Wanted list two months ago, but despite a $100,000 reward, she remains at large.

The podcast summarized the case, but did not provide any new information.

Launched in 2014, OneCoin claimed to be a mineable cryptocurrency with a maximum supply of 120 billion coins. The scheme lured investors with the promise of being a “Bitcoin killer.” But unlike BTC, OneCoin’s blockchain did not exist.

“OneCoin is easy to use. OneCoin is for everyone. Make payments everywhere, everyone, globally. And this is who we are. Global citizens in a small world who want to make a change,” Ignatova said in a 2016 speech, a years before they went on the run after allegedly defrauding investors out of billions.

“She is currently 42 years old and has brown eyes and dark brown to black hair,” said Monica Grover, host of the “Inside the FBI” podcast, which may narrow it down somewhat. However, the investigators believe that she could have changed her physical appearance.

Ignatova “was not so visible in 2018/2019, and plastic surgeons are very discreet with rich clients,” Jamie Bartlettinvestigative journalist and host of the BBC podcast “The Missing Cryptoqueen” in 2019, told Decrypt. “[The authorities] predictably stay rather tight-lipped about ongoing and live investigations.”

In fact, Grover said in the FBI podcast that Ignatova may not only have changed her physical appearance, but that she can speak multiple languages, including English, German and Bulgarian — making her all the more difficult to find.

However, Bartlett believes the Feds have run down some plausible leads: “I think we [hosts of “The Missing Cryptoqueen”] has gotten closer,” he said. It would, of course, make for an excellent finale to Bartlett’s podcast. In fact, he said more episodes are in development and coming soon.

As for the authorities? Perhaps the agency should offer the $100,000 reward in Bitcoin instead.

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