A decade ago, Dr. Ruja Ignatova gained notoriety through her fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme, OneCoin. With unwavering trust, millions worldwide invested their life savings in her vision for a new online currency. However, in 2017, Dr. Ignatova mysteriously disappeared after boarding a plane in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Despite extensive efforts, authorities remain clueless about her whereabouts. The FBI has charged her with fraud, alleging that she absconded with over $4 billion from investors across 175 countries.
The BBC has conducted an inquiry aimed at unraveling the mystery surrounding Dr. Ignatova’s disappearance. Their investigation seeks to shed light on what truly happened to her.
During an investigation spanning over a year, the BBC uncovered Dr. Ignatova’s significant connections to a suspected Bulgarian organized crime figure named Hristoforos Nikos Amanatidis, commonly known as Taki.
“We were told, allegedly a big-time drug guy was in charge of her physical security,” Richard Reinhardt, who began the investigation into OneCoin for the US Internal Revenue Service alongside the FBI, told the BBC.
“Taki came up more than once, it wasn’t like it was a one-off. That was a recurring theme,” the now-retired officer said.
“We do have evidence that a very significant, if not the most prolific, drug trafficker of all time in Bulgaria, was closely linked to OneCoin – served as Ruja Ignatova’s personal security guard,” an assistant attorney told the outlet.
Dr. Ignatova traveled from Bulgaria to Athens aboard a plane accompanied by her bodyguard, Taki. However, while the bodyguard returned, she did not.
According to an assistant attorney, there is evidence connecting a highly significant drug trafficker in Bulgaria to OneCoin, and this individual also served as Ruja Ignatova’s personal security guard.
Taki, a figure of considerable prominence in Bulgaria, is often compared to El Chapo or Pablo Escobar. He is strongly believed to lead the Bulgarian organized crime network and engage in extensive drug smuggling.
According to leaked Europol documents, Bulgarian authorities suspected Taki, a figure with an almost mythical status in his native Bulgaria, of utilizing OneCoin’s financial infrastructure for illicit activities such as money laundering and drug trafficking.
Taki remains an enigmatic figure, elusive and unseen. His presence is felt through intermediaries, and those who disregard his warnings mysteriously vanish.
Ivan Hristanov, a former Bulgarian deputy minister, asserted that Taki was the sole individual capable of shielding Ignatova from investigations, even those conducted by foreign agencies.
Taki, who is now believed to reside in Dubai, received a substantial monthly payment of 100,000 euros from Ms. Ignatova for providing protection. However, it appears that Ms. Ignatova’s guardian may have eventually become hostile.
According to a 2022 report by Bulgarian investigative journalist Dimitar Stoyanov, the BBC stated that Ms. Ignatova was murdered one year after she went missing.
Taki’s brother-in-law drunkenly claimed that Ms. Ignatova was murdered on Taki’s orders in late 2018. Her body was allegedly dismembered and thrown off a yacht into the Ionian Sea, according to a police informant,
According to several criminal associates of Taki, Ms. Ignatova had become a burden for him. Property records indicate that after her disappearance, several of her properties are now being utilized by individuals associated with Taki.
Despite never being arrested in connection with Ms. Ignatova’s murder, Taki remains a subject of speculation. Her body remains undiscovered, and investigators lack sufficient evidence to bring him to trial.
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