Ruja Ignatova is believed to have stolen at least €3.2 billion from OneCoin investors before going on the run in 2017. Since then, everyone from the FBI and German police, to former victims and criminal gangs have been trying to find her. It was even claimed that she was murdered at sea, her body cut up into pieces… This film debunks that rumour and reveals what happened to some of the OneCoin money. Is Ruja Ignatova still alive and residing in South Africa?
“There is no murder. She’s alive”, states former close collaborator, Duncan Arthur. After years of speculation, a leaked police report from Bulgaria describes in great detail how Ruia Ignatova was allegedly murdered on a yacht on the orders of mafia boss, Christoforos Amanatidis (nicknamed, Taki). The document was leaked by one of Taki’s former criminal associates, Karo, who was later murdered in his Cape Town home along with his wife and two others. And yet, there are blatant discrepancies in the report. The man named as the killer was already in police custody at the time of the murder. As Daniela Dässel, spokeswoman for German police investigation into Ruja Ignatova, states: “We are working on the assumption that Ruja Ignatova is still alive”. They believe the report is an elaborate fake to protect her and are investigating leads suggesting she is now living in South Africa, a stronghold for the Bulgarian mafia.
What is easier to ascertain, is the whereabouts of much of the OneCoin stolen money. A data leak from Dubai revealed that One Coin’s entire management team bought properties worth hundreds of millions there. Ruja alone invested at least 185 million euros in Dubai, buying a penthouse on Palm Island. Her head of security, Frank Schneider, also bought an apartment there, one which he somehow managed to sell for 2 million euros while under house arrest. Shortly afterwards, he too disappeared, without a trace. Ruja’s penthouse was also sold in 2019, at a time when she had been missing for two years.
So, will she ever be found? As Duncan Arthur says: “She’s the most successful criminal ever, you know. And for that, I somehow feel I’ve got to give her some kind of respect. And in five years time, nobody’s even going to be looking for her. She got away” .