Die Kryptoqueen

The true crime series "The Crypto Queen" tells the story of the largest Internet fraud to date - committed by the mysterious Ruja Ignatova. The series tells her unprecedented success story, her downfall and her disappearance. Who is Ruja Ignatova? As we search for Ignatova's past, we ask who she actually was.

The search for clues for the “crypto queen” continues to London. Here, along with Sofia, Dubai and Hong Kong, was the main branch of OneCoin - the company founded by Ruja Ignatova. Here the South African and banker Duncan Arthur worked for Ruja Ignatova - without suspecting that he was taking part in a global fraud. He was officially responsible for ensuring that everyone complied with the law, but actually Duncan Arthur used his diverse contacts to boost business in Africa as well. "Banking the unbanked" was OneCoin's slogan to convince particularly poor people in third world countries to invest in OneCoin.

In July 2017, “crypto queen” Ruja Ignatova celebrated her last big party at her luxury seaside estate in Sozopol, Bulgaria. Asdis Ran, her best friend, was also there and remembers it. Everyone was there: the high society of Bulgaria, OneCoin employees and their many business partners worldwide. Three months after the party, Ruja Ignatova disappeared. New, exclusive recordings of the crypto queen's phone calls from this time shed completely new light on her disappearance.

After Ruja's disappearance, her brother Konstantin Ignatov took over the leadership of OneCoin. The dog lover, martial artist, tattoo and heavy metal fan continued to travel around the world to convince people of the hoax. He was finally arrested in the USA in March 2019. He faces 40 years in prison and decides to testify as a witness for the prosecution. Konstantin Ignatov, ex-secret service chief Frank Schneider and others talk about the possible whereabouts of Ruja Ignatova and that of her billions.