Konstantin Ignatov
Brother of OneCoin's vanished 'Cryptoqueen' Ruja Ignatova, who took over leadership of the ~$4B OneCoin scheme. He pleaded guilty in 2019 to fraud and money laundering, cooperated extensively with U.S. prosecutors, and in 2024 was sentenced to time served.
Also known as: Konstantin Ignatov
Bio
Konstantin Ignatov took over day-to-day leadership of OneCoin after his sister, Ruja Ignatova, disappeared in 2017. He was arrested in March 2019. [1][2]
Legal outcome
Ignatov pleaded guilty in 2019 to fraud and money-laundering charges (a theoretical 90-year maximum) and became a key cooperating witness against co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood and money launderer Mark Scott. On March 5, 2024, citing his cooperation, the court sentenced him to time served plus two years of supervised release and ~$118,000 forfeiture; he was then deported. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (2)
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
Evolved Apes (NFT)ProjectsAn NFT collection launched on OpenSea in September 2021 that promised a fighting game. About a week later its anonymous developer 'Evil Ape' vanished with 798 ETH (~$2.7M). In June 2024 U.S. prosecutors charged three U.K. nationals over the scheme.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.