A $5m (£4m) reward is being offered in the hunt for the fugitive “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova.
Bulgarian-born Ignatova, who has German citizenship, has been on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list since 2022 for fraud and money laundering.
She is accused of defrauding investors out of $4bn (£3.3bn) by selling a fake cryptocurrency called OneCoin, founded in Sofia in 2014.
The US agency, which has called OneCoin “one of the largest global fraud schemes in history”, previously offered a $100,000 (£82,463) reward for information leading to her capture.
However, that has now been raised to £4m.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor said on Wednesday that the country will press charges against Ignatova, who disappeared in late 2017.
“She will also be charged in absentia in our country, which will allow the start of a procedure for the confiscation of her illegally acquired property,” he said.
Ignatova’s last known movements were taking a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens in October 2017 and there’s speculation she may have been murdered by the Bulgarian mafia.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
