1. Dr Ruja

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BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Quick warning before we begin. This episode contains strong language. Let's give a warm Applause for our creator, our founder, our lovely Dr. Rujum. On the eleventh of june 2016, a 36-year-old businessman Dr. Ruja Ignatova walked on stage at Wembley Arena in front of thousands of adoring fans.

She was dressed as she always dressed: expensive ball gown, long diamond earrings, and bright red lipstick. The place was full of people who believed in Dr. Rouge so much that they'd invested their money. She promised the crowd a financial revolution that would make them all rich. Thank you. She had a nice diamond necklace that I think it was by seeing the size and knowing about diamonds now, she was really impressive. She looked like a queen.

Like a queen. Do you know her? Do you know? Around the world she had millions of followers. I don't know everyone as soon as we mentioned her name it just caused this great For all. She called herself the Crypto Queen. This girl is on fire. Rouger looked unstoppable. Then, in late 2017, Dr. Rouge disappeared. Amen. One of Europe's richest women, a woman who seemed destined to change the world, had vanished. 왜?

I'm Jamie Bartlett. I've always been interested in how and why technology changes the way we behave. As a writer, I spend most of my time in the internet's darkest corners, exploring darknet drugs markets, speaking to criminal hackers, hanging out on suicide forums, and studying paedophile groups. I think these outsiders, in a twisted way, can tell us something about ourselves and the times we live in.

I've seen some really weird and really dark stuff, but nothing could prepare me for the story you're about to hear. Dr Rouger is no ordinary missing person. This is the Missing Crypto Queen. Episode 1. Dr. Rougea.

In late 2008, a strange post appeared on an obscure internet forum entitled Bitcoin! A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. It was written by a mysterious person called Satoshi Nakamoto. This was around the time of the financial crisis, and Satoshi Nakamoto thought that the banks and governments governments had too much power which they used in their own self-interest. Satoshi described a new type of money called Bitcoin that was designed to change all that.

A cryptocurrency, Satoshi called it, that wasn't controlled or run by central banks or governments, that you could send anywhere around the world for free and where no one was in charge. Now at first no one paid any attention to this strange person's wild ideas, but slowly tens, then hundreds, and then thousands of people started to buy and use Bitcoin. Some started saying it was the future of money, and the worse the big banks behaved, the more popular it became.

By twenty fourteen, Satoshi's idea was going mainstream. The price reached$1,000 per Bitcoin, and anyone who bought early became very, very rich. Driven by the growing success of Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies started appearing, all hoping to cash in. One of those was Doctor Rouge's

She called it OneCoin. I was always very, very interested in cryptocurrency. Here she is speaking for the OneCoin website in 2016. I was uh working with McKinsey and I was doing their very traditional and very big sector. banking and insurance. So bitcoin somehow popped up and we were discussing it. And it got more and more successful and it got more and more interesting. But I was also thinking a bit how to bring cryptocurrency to the next level.

It was impossible not to be impressed by Doctor Rouge. She appeared on the front cover of prestigious business magazines. She has degrees from Oxford and Constance University and is fluent in several languages. So I think what is unique about OneCoin.1 is we target the mass market. So the idea was how to bring a good concept, an interesting concept, out to the people. Dr. Rouge promised banking for the unbanked, a financial revolution unshackled from banking controls.

She wanted to democratize money. Bigger, better, and safer than Bitcoin, and if you invest in one coin, you can become rich beyond your wildest dreams. The following year, word about OneCoin was starting to spread. Rumors circulated in Facebook and WhatsApp groups about an amazing new cryptocurrency that was going to replace Bitcoin and the remarkable woman behind it. We are one year old. When Bitcoin was one year old.

15 cents. Nobody cared about Bitcoin. Oh, I lost hundred coins, what is it? Oh I lost We are one year old and we already Dr. Rouge started appearing at events all over the world. The world, spreading the one-coin gospel, arguing with bankers and gaining legions of devoted followers. And always, always dressed in silk gowns, diamonds, and her signature red lipstick. Try to imagine a cross between Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Steve Jobs.

We have been growing very, very fast. Sometimes people even come to me and say, Dr Rouja, did I miss the opportunity? Is it over? What do we do now? And the answer is actually this is just the beginning. She definitely knew what she was talking about.

She was extremely powerful. Iger Alberts and Andrea Cimbala first met Doctor Rouge at an event in late 2015. Soon after they started working closely together and became good friends. She explained actually why in the next 15 years cryptocurrency will take over. She said that the banking system is rotten, it's old, it's not honest, it's owned by governments that use it in the advantage. She explained how many people are unbanked.

So, cryptocurrency could have been really a solution for unbanked people because you can use it from a telephone when you have internet. We as a financial sector charge always most the ones who are the poorest, who are like the ones with the needs that nobody else can serve. The people out there, the mass customers, the ones who actually change the world, the ones who are working for economy, these people are underserved, underbanked, and I believe that cryptocurrency can change their lives.

Were you impressed with what she had to say? Yes, yes. She looked people in the eye, she walked up to them, she was ready to eat them alive. Man, she knocked all the other people off. They had some critical questions. Υπότιτλοι AUTHORWAVE Like the head like There was a guy from Barclays Bank or something. He wanted to do some macho thing. He was laughing. The man from the bank was speechless. اشتركوا في القناة

You all know that this is the future, but you guys tried to scam the people. You are the greedy guys. You are the guys that steal from the people. You guys created in 2008 that bank crisis. You guys are responsible. have a monopoly on many things and they do not treat some of their clients in a good way. So I believe that the second system, a financial system, will be created and somehow will have

When I would beat the banker, I would call home and say, you know, we can close the bank. This lady takes it over. And of course we were very proud because we are part of this and we came back and started to work like we never did before. What what did you think you were part of? I mean what did you what were you thinking this was all about? The big change. One family, you're amazing guys. As 2016 approached, the big change was happening. In this room we have at least 70 countries present.

Thousands of people were filling stadiums to hear Dr. Rouge talk. To buy one coin and join this financial revolution. I believe what makes us different is our vision. We are more than just one coin. We create the world around this coin. Before you joined OneCoin, ninety-nine percent of you did not know what cryptocurrency is about. Now we understand and we are shaping the future. Everybody needs to know one coin's name. It was more than just a currency though. It was like a family.

Members were part of a network called One Life, and they talked of changing the world. They even had their own hand sign, a sort of circle and a one, and everyone would do it when they met. And Dr. Rouge, sitting in the one coin office in Bulgaria, was the matriarch, the crypto queen. The community is our network. And this community is actually what makes us so strong. A lot of us got so excited about cryptocurrency and this concept, they brought friends.

A lot of you will bring even business partners. This means you become part of a community or of a family. Thank you. For every arena filled with new recruits, ten arenas worth of people were hearing about Dr. Rouge's vision online.

In Scotland, Jen McAdam was one of them. A close friend had sent her a message about an unmissable opportunity. Jen sat down at her computer and clicked the link. Were you at home on the computer? I'm at home on my laptop on this webinar with lots and lots of other people A hundred or so and these webinars were held day and night, sometimes three, four times between day and night. Every single day. That that's it that for the UK

So how long was this webinar for? It could last you, an hour, an hour and a half. 所以 W what are these people on the screen that are pitching this to you? What do they actually look like? I mean and how are they beh how are they behaving? Very up tempo, full of beans, full of passion. Very, very passionate. their lives have changed. One coin family it's a family very family oriented words. Rouja sh she's a doctor and they then show you her credentials.

She has a PhD, she worked with Mackenzie and Code. Thank you very much for the invitation to be a speaker at the Economist Forum today. I think when I saw her at the Economist Summit That does it for me. My name is Dr. Ruje Ignatovan. I hold a PhD in law. I have always been very interested in financial services and worked about six years with McKinsey in uh Eastern Europe actually when the crisis

Really, really bad. I was spending my time in Russia with Sbairbank and it was um an interesting time. She gave a fantastic speech and she's talking about one koi. What a clever lady and I looked at her and she was sleek at the time, you know, her dress and for me that was that ticked the box. Being a businesswoman previously at all. That's amazing. Power of the women well done. I I felt proud of her.

Economist. By the time you come off that that webinar you're actually thinking, Oh my goodness, uh well for me I thought ooh I suppose I could try a thousand euro and um see how it goes and that's what I did. Were you quite excited you know, were you excited? So excited. So was my friend. I remember getting down to visit her after it. You know that the early stages of Bitcoin? I know you're told the story about the pizza guy in Bitcoin who bought it for so many cents.

and ended up with over m was it multi milli a few million? that you're told that's where one coin actually is we're in the early stages. You're so lucky, you know, that you're you're seeing this webinar right now. You're you're in such early stages and it's just going to go like Bitcoin is going to go bigger. So we were hyper We were buzzing. Conversation I uh my friend and I had that night. Oh we're gonna go on holiday or just we're family didn't have to worry, the weight was just

lifted with just some joy into our lives, it really was. Yeah, I rem I remember that night as c as as clear as day. I'll never forget it. When you think you're changing your life financially and your hardships are over. I want to be the biggest cryptocurrency out there and just really Grow huge. Thank you.

By 2017, just three years after launch, it had over 3 million members worldwide. And when I say worldwide, I mean worldwide. Some people, like Bill Gates Griffin here, even started writing songs about one. Oh these seminars they would come in Africa for like tour to Africa Alexander went to a one coin seminar in Umbarara, a town in western Uganda. And you find more than 300 people in that seminar.

Raja Ignatova, she's an ingenious lady. In every conference, in every seminars, they would play the video of her, at least her profile. Anyone, any no, any genius lady in Africa better than Luja. How did you feel when you'd watch her videos and things? What did you think of her? Oh my friend. And the money was pouring in They opened office after office. They had a huge office in Hong Kong. They had a huge office in

They had huge offices in Sofia. They bought whole buildings. There was every month a celebration of a new office opening with hundreds of people working there. To be honest, it was an excuse. People couldn't buy enough of these one coins. But in October 2017, there was a big one coin event in Lisbon, Portugal. Dr. Rouge was scheduled to speak. She was in the program. Nobody knew why she was not that.

Dr. Rouja was extremely disciplined. It never happened that she didn't show up for an appointment and she was always on time, not one minute later. When you make an appointment with her, you're 10 seconds late, the appointment is over. When you show up too late, Je had to be on time. So we really saw this is nothing. How can this happen? And the people from the office who are desperate, we saw them. Where is she? We said call them call her one more time.

Who ever called, and we had the highest people from the company there, she didn't pick up. She didn't react on the email, not on the WhatsApp, or nothing. Nothing helped. Her brother, who was the bodyguard and you know the guy is not that smart. So the guy walked around and we saw the desperation calling to his sister, but we could not figure it out. And nobody knew where is Dr. Rouja. We are worried. Because we told Dr. Rouja. times that two bodyguards is not enough.

Did she walk around with bodyguards then? Yeah because when you make so much money. So you're thinking at this point that she might have been kidnapped or killed? Absolutely, yes, absolutely. Kidnapping, killing, all those fuckers from the traditional bank, you know, this is the trick that they do. It was us against the world. It was us against the world. Nobody would see or hear from Dr. Rouge again.

This is the missing crypto queen. Over the next seven episodes, me and the producer Georgia. Hi Jamie. Hi. We're on the hunt to find Dr. Rougea and uncover the truth about her company OneCoin. What's her name? Rougea. I think I might have heard something that someone was there in like the whole organizer of everything. Get on the ground, get on the docks, get on the ports and talk to the lower level, talk to the workers there. Hello. Can I ask who owns this boat?

You don't know what to do with your money anymore. You give it to your wife and she buys those bullshit Swarovskis. Where is she? And why did she disappear? A war is coming. Not a war of blood and guns, but a war of culture. BBC is my enemy. Do you feel like the mood changes a bit and you're a bit suddenly you feel a little bit uncomfortable about being somewhere? You're not helping me whatsoever. You're upsetting me. I personally The way that you're speaking, it's disgusting and people

Oh come on! Come on guys, let's go! know the truth very soon. The Missing Crypto Queen was presented by me, Jamie Bartlett. It was written and researched by me, Jamie Bartlett, and Georgia Catt. Georgia Catt was the producer. The story consultant is Chris Barube and Philip Sellers is the editor. Music and sound design from the amazing Phil Channel and we're really excited to say that we have vocals especially composed and performed by Decislava Stefanova and the London Bulgarian Choir.

Just for the missing crypto queen. It is a radio documentaries production for BBC Sound. BBC Sounds. Music Radio Podcast Two years ago, a 27-year-old woman at a festival was the victim of upskirting. After discovering there was no law against it, she started a campaign to ban it. So we're asking, how can one woman change the law? The Beyond Today podcast. One big question about one big story every day. Listen now on BBC Sounds.

It's time for a great deal on a new Honda. It's time to take an adventure with rugged capability and commanding style. It's time for powerful performance, plus, plenty of room inside. Start your journey in a brand new. new vehicle. Check out the Honda Ridgeline, pilot, passport, or CRV. See Dealer for financing details. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed?

In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau. Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.