Glam ‘Crypto Queen’ stole £215k of my inheritance after cruel promises – then I got death threats for sounding alarm

MONTHS after investing her dad’s hard-earned inheritance into OneCoin sold by the “Crypto Queen”, Jennifer McAdam’s heart sank as she realised she’d been scammed. She was one of 70,000 Brits hoping to strike it lucky by investing thousands after being promised untold riches by a glam Bulgarian businesswoman. Jennifer McAdam was one of 70,000 Brits who invested in OneCoin after being convinced by the ‘Crypto Queen’ Ruja Ignatova Credit: Supplied Jennifer invested all of her dad’s hard-earned inheritance in OneCoin Credit: Supplied Jennifer has spent the years since being cheated financially campaigning for justice as her scammer Dr. Ruja Ignatova remains at large. Ignatova is still the only woman on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, with a $5million reward on her head. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! But during her hunt to find Ignatova, Jennifer has faced chilling death threats, vile abuse and tough legal battles. The Brit told The Sun: “It has now been almost 10 years since OneCoin changed my life, yet not a day passes when I don’t think about what happened. read more in Crypto Queen “You don’t simply move on from something like this. You learn to live with it. “The anger softens with time, but the sense of injustice never leaves you.” Ruja Ignatova is on the FBI’s ‘Ten Most Wanted Fugitive’ list after she fleeced investors out of millions before going missing Credit: EPA Ruja presented herself as an accomplished academic and successful entrepreneur and even made it on the front cover of Forbes in Bulgaria Credit: Universal News & Sport In 2016, Jennifer invested her late father’s inheritance, around £8,700, as well as collectively investing £217,000 alongside family and friends, in OneCoin. Her decision came after being diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, also called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which left her bed-ridden for days at a time. Most read in The Sun The Scotswoman used to run an IT marketing consultancy business which she built herself – but had to close it down after the diagnosis. “But then along came Ruja Ignatova and OneCoin,” Jennifer said. She thought everything about OneCoin appeared legitimate. Ignatova presented herself as an accomplished academic and successful entrepreneur and even made it on the front cover of Forbes in Bulgaria. She boasted mansions in Bulgaria, Germany, and the Middle East and had London offices overlooking Hyde Park and a penthouse in Kensington. The so-called queen of crypto even spoke at prestigious international events promoting herself and OneCoin. Ignatova presented herself as an accomplished academic and successful entrepreneur and even made it on the front cover of Forbes in Bulgaria Credit: Supplied She boasted mansions in ­Bulgaria, Germany and the Middle East and had London offices overlooking Hyde Park and a penthouse in KensingtonCredit: Not known clear with Picture Desk Jennifer said: “Looking back, we now know that much of the image of Ruja Ignatova and OneCoin was carefully manufactured.” “At the time, however, it persuaded not only me but millions of others worldwide that it was a legitimate business and investment opportunity. “It wasn’t marketed as a gamble. It was presented as the next technological financial revolution. “It appealed to ordinary people who simply wanted to make sensible decisions for their future. That is why it grew so quickly, and why so many people, not just in the UK but around the world, believed in it.” Jennifer, now a public speaker on scams, continued: “When I eventually realised that OneCoin was a fraud, the overwhelming feeling wasn’t simply shock. It was devastation. “OneCoin didn’t simply steal my father’s inheritance. It stole the hope I was trying to build for my family’s future at one of the most vulnerable periods of my life.” Approximately 70,000 people in the UK invested in OneCoin, totalling over £100 million in UK financial loss. After a brief investigation into OneCoin, City of London Police dropped the case over a “lack of evidence”. Jennifer is the author of highly acclaimed book Devil’s Coin: My Battle to Take Down the Notorious OneCoin Cryptoqueen Credit: Arthur Edwards / The Sun Jennifer received countless torrents of abuse online after going public with complaints she had been scammed Credit: Emily Macinnes But for Jennifer, the problems persisted. She took her frustrations online as she tried to warn others about Ignatova who was still drumming up business around the world. What followed was torrents of abuse online, she said. Jennifer added: “Speaking out has come at a very personal cost. For years I have lived with death threats, threats of sexual violence, relentless online abuse, intimidation and sustained attempts to silence me. “Ruja Ignatova even instructed a prominent London law firm to threaten me with defamation legal action after I publicly warned that OneCoin was a scam.” Jennifer says OneCoin sent her a cease-and-desist letter in 2017 to her home address, sparking fears they now knew where she lived. “Looking back now, I realise just how frightening that was,” she said. “At the time I was simply an ordinary woman trying to stop others from losing everything. I never imagined that telling the truth would expose me to that level of hostility.” OneCoin saw investors scammed out of $4.5bn (£3.54bn) through the fake cryptocurrency business Credit: Alamy Who is Ruja Ignatova? MYSTERY surrounds Ruja Ignatova after she scammed billions out of investors before disappearing without a trace for a decade. Ruja Plamenova Ignatova was born on May 30, 1980, in Bulgaria and graduated from the University of Oxford before earning a PhD in private international law in 2005. She married German lawyer Bjorn Strehl, and the pair had a daughter together in 2016. What were her scams? Ignatova was first convicted of fraud in Germany in 2012, after her father Plamen Ignatov bought a company that was quickly declared bankrupt in mysterious circumstances. She was given a suspended sentence of 14 months’ imprisonment for her involvement. The following year she set up what’s alleged to be a multi-level marketing scam called BigCoin, which was the original version of what ended up as OneCoin in 2014. Then in early 2019, she was charged by US authorities with wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering over OneCoin. She was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted in June 2022, and there’s now a reward of up to $5million (£3.7million) for information that leads to her being found. Jennifer, the author of highly acclaimed book Devil’s Coin: My Battle to Take Down the Notorious OneCoin Cryptoqueen, has continued to speak out despite the pushback. Good news on the case came earlier this year as authorities in Germany and the United States managed to recover some of the stolen wealth. The US Department of Justice announced that $40million, seized from Ignatova and British OneCoin co-founder Sebastian Greenwood, would be used to pay compensation to victims worldwide. Sending a powerful message to Ignatova, Jennifer said: “I want you to know this. You may have disappeared, but the people you deceived have not. “This has never been about revenge. It has always been about justice.” Her disappearance sparked rumours that Ignatova was brutally murdered. Police and investigative journalists looking into her crimes found that she may have had links to a ghostly figure known as Taki. Taki is believed to be the head of the Bulgarian Mafia and has a dark past of criminality and bloodshed across the European nation. Jennifer has always believed Ignatova is still alive and is hopeful one day she will pay for her scams behind bars. Comment now