5 of the most notorious personalities from the crypto world

Ruja Ignatova

Ruja Ignatova is perhaps the most notorious personality on this list. Often referred to as the Crypto Queen, Ignatova is a convicted Bulgarian-German fraudster who orchestrated the OneCoin Ponzi scheme, one of the biggest scams in crypto history.

OneCoin’s main business model revolved around the sale of course materials. In many ways it resembled a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme where those who bought the course materials were paid to recruit new buyers. The OneCoin project ran successfully between 2014 and 2016. During this period, it is believed to have raised over $4 billion from innocent investors.

The project’s co-founder, Sebastian Greenwood, was arrested and sentenced to prison in the United States. Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin Ignatov, was also arrested and pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering. But when the authorities began cracking down on the company, Ignatova had already gone into hiding. She is believed to have taken a flight from Bulgaria to Greece but has not been seen since. In July of this year, the FBI even added Ignatova to its most wanted list.

John McAfee

John McAfee was a British-American computer programmer and businessman known for launching the first commercial antivirus software, McAfee Antivirus. McAfee eventually sold his stake in the antivirus company and began pursuing several other business interests, including cryptocurrencies.

But instead of pushing the envelope of technology and innovation, McAfee turned to pump-and-dump and promoting ICOs to amass a small fortune.

According to court documents, McAfee and his associates made off with over $13 million by using his popular Twitter account to push niche cryptocurrencies or promote initial coin offerings. Of course, this was done without disclosing that he was to profit through investment gains or promotional fees.

Facing charges from the SEC and several tax evasion cases, McAfee was arrested in Spain in October 2020 and was due to be extradited to the United States. However, he was found hanging in his cell in June 2021. His death was shrouded in speculation and conspiracy theories about the possibility that he was murdered. Furthermore, in a recent Netflix show – Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee – his wife, Janice McAfee, said she did not believe his death was a suicide and claimed the suicide note found in his cell was a forgery.

Gerald Cotten

Gerald Cotten is quite famous among crypto investors in Canada. He was the founder of QuadrigaCX, which was once Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. However, things went wrong when cryptocurrency prices crashed in 2018 and customers tried to withdraw their money from Quadriga. Most investors were faced with dead ends and could not withdraw their money.

Around the same time, Cotten was reported to have died while honeymooning with his wife in India. It is believed that Cotten owed more than $250 million to over 76,000 investors. However, only Cotten could access this sum, as he was the only one with passwords to the offline cold wallets. Therefore, his untimely death sparked widespread speculation – many users believed he had orchestrated the perfect exit scheme, faking his death to get away with the money.

A Netflix show – Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King – explored these theories and interviewed several investors, enforcement agents and Cotten’s acquaintances. Eventually, it was discovered that Cotten was a fraud and QuadrigaCX was his Ponzi scheme. Even worse, he allegedly lost about $150 million of his clients’ money to gambling and spent the rest on his lavish lifestyle.

Cornelius Johannes Steynberg

Cornelius Johannes Steynberg is the founder of a South African crypto exchange called Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI). Steynberg founded MTI in May 2018 and continued operating it until late 2020, when it had become clear that the platform was actually a Ponzi scheme.

He fled South Africa in December 2020 and managed to remain undetected for an entire year. Then, in January 2022, police in Brazil received a tip that a foreigner was using a fake ID. The person they arrested was none other than Cornelius Johann Steynberg. He was arrested and will be deported to the United States, where he faces several lawsuits from law enforcement agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Steynberg is said to have amassed at least 29,421 BTC worth $1.7 billion by defrauding participants in a scheme he ran through MTI. According to the official press release, this is the largest fraudulent scheme involving Bitcoin charged in any CFTC case.

Do Kwon

Do Kwon is a South Korean cryptocurrency developer who co-founded the Terra blockchain. In May 2022, the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency LUNA and its associated stablecoin UST collapsed to $0, wiping out nearly $60 billion of market capitalization in just over a week.

Initially, it was reported that a coordinated attack led to UST’s de-peg and LUNA’s death spiral. However, a few days later, some reports suggested that Do Kwon disbanded Terra’s Seoul and Busan branches just days before the crash. This caused widespread speculation and invited glare from law enforcement agencies worldwide. The Korean National Tax Service also levied $78.4 million in corporate and income taxes on Do Kwon and Terraform Labs.

While Do Kwon is believed to have cooperated with officials initially, he is now said to be on the run. There is even a red notice issued against him by Interpol. Along with law enforcement agencies, some 4,400 disgruntled investors have reportedly launched a hunt for Do Kwon, claiming he is hiding in Russia, Dubai, Azerbaijan or sailing somewhere on a yacht. However, Do Kwon continues to appear online, maintaining his innocence and stating that he is not on the run. But he does not reveal his whereabouts, citing personal security concerns.