Episode 121: Ruja Ignatova and the OneCoin Scam (Premium)

In this episode we do a deep dive into the largest of the cryptocurrency scams carried out so far, the OneCoin theft fronted by Ruja Ignatova. At least $4 billion was stolen from people who "invested" in the nonexistent cryptocurrency OneCoin and Ms. Ignatova has not been seen since 2017. Was she killed by the mob? Is she hiding out on the lam? We speculate about this as well as discuss the wider societal forces that allow hucksters like her to exist including the credibility lent to her by among others The Economist, Forbes, Oxford, and McKinsey & Company.

Special thanks to discord user "Rona" for alerting us to the subject of this episode.

Citations:

• Cryptoqueen: How this woman scammed the world, then vanished (BBC)
  An overview of the OneCoin scam.