3 Figures Involved in the Biggest Crypto Scandals, Number 2 is Surprising!

Jakarta, Pintu News – The cryptocurrency market, often seen as a new frontier for investment, has also been the scene of some major scandals that have shocked the world. These three figures, once considered pioneers in the industry, are now wanted for fraud schemes that cost investors billions of dollars.

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Ruja Plamenova Ignatova: The Crypto Queen

Ruja Plamenova Ignatova, known as “Cryptoqueen,” was involved in one of the biggest crypto scams in history. Born in Bulgaria and raised in Germany, Ignatova completed her education at Oxford University and began a successful career in finance.

In 2014, she co-founded OneCoin with Karl Sebastian Greenwood, which promised high returns for investors. OneCoin, which operated through a multi-level marketing scheme, was claimed by Ignatova to be a revolutionary crypto that could compete with Bitcoin (BTC).

However, in 2016, it was revealed that OneCoin was actually a Ponzi scheme without a verifiable blockchain, which had defrauded investors of more than $4 billion globally. Ignatova disappeared after being charged with fraud and money laundering in 2017.

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Faruk Fatih Özer: Thodex Bankruptcy

Faruk Fatih Özer founded Thodex, a Turkish crypto exchange that grew quickly into one of the country’s largest platforms. Founded in 2017, Thodex promises easy access to a wide range of cryptos.

However, in April 2021, Thodex abruptly ceased operations, leaving more than 400,000 users unable to access their accounts with locked crypto funds worth around $2 billion. After the shutdown, Özer fled to Albania, but was eventually arrested and extradited back to Turkey in 2023.

In September 2023, Özer and his brothers were sentenced to prison for a total of 11,196 years, although some sentencing decisions were overturned by the court in 2025 due to lack of evidence.

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Satish Kumbhani

Satish Kumbhani, founder of BitConnect, orchestrated a global Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $2.4 billion between 2016 and 2018. Kumbhani and his associates promoted BitConnect’s proprietary technologies, namely “BitConnect Trading Bot” and “Volatility Software,” which claimed to guarantee huge profits from crypto market fluctuations.

However, BitConnect actually used funds from new investors to repay previous investors, a hallmark of Ponzi schemes. Kumbhani shut down his loan program after about a year and disappeared after being charged by the SEC in 2021. Glenn Arcaro, head of BitConnect’s North American division, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 38 months in prison in 2022.

Conclusion

The stories of Ruja Ignatova, Faruk Fatih Özer, and Satish Kumbhani demonstrate the devastating impact of crypto fraud, with billions of dollars lost and many lives disrupted. These cases highlight the need for stricter regulatory oversight, investor education, and international cooperation to combat fraud in the crypto space.

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This content aims to enrich readers’ information. Pintu collects this information from various relevant sources and is not influenced by outside parties. Note that an asset’s past performance does not determine its projected future performance. Crypto trading activities have high risk and volatility, always do your own research and use cold cash before investing. All activities of buying and selling bitcoin and other crypto asset investments are the responsibility of the reader.

Reference

• BeInCrypto. Crypto Scam Figures. Accessed on June 30, 2025
• Featured Image: Generated by Ai