Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - #TBT - The Biggest Crypto Scam Ever

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

Today, Nicole tells the true story of the “Cryptoqueen” who orchestrated a 4 billion dollar crypto scam and is still on the run. This is a juicy one. Tune in! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. Have you heard of OneCoin? No?

Well, that's not what the developers would have told you in 2014 when they said that OneCoin would dethrone Bitcoin. With an estimated $4 billion racked up in a Ponzi scheme-esque fraud, OneCoin is debatably the largest cryptocurrency scam yet. OneCoin was run by Ruja Ignatova, a woman who was, and still is, called the Crypto Queen. Experts on financial crime say that cryptocurrencies are ripe for Ponzi schemes. Ponzi schemes are interchangeable with pyramid schemes. The scam is structured so that there is a small group of schemers at the top of the investing food chain that reaps all the returns. They, of course, promise high, improbable, or even impossible returns to a lower tier of investors and keep looping in additional investors.

The capital from new investors is repackaged and given to prior investors as their ROIs. Allegedly, Ignatova raked in over $500 million by promising investors that OneCoin would become the next big thing. According to reports, OneCoin didn't even have proper blockchain technology set up. The blockchain technology was apparently just information stored in a spreadsheet, which is not quite the ultra-private, high-tech, network-connected, and verified blockchain technology that crypto stans know and love. This story is absolutely nuts and is so ripe for some sort of Lifetime movie. Except you probably wouldn't even believe it when you saw it, even if it is on Lifetime. Here's where it gets really juicy. OneCoin's

downfall started when Ignatova suspected her boyfriend was up to something. She hired someone to, get this, rent the apartment underneath her boyfriend's apartment to spy on him. Her DIY spy drilled holes through the ceiling so that she could eavesdrop on the boyfriend. In an even wilder turn of events, Ignatova did discover something, that her boyfriend was working with the FBI. It's simultaneously both what you would hope would happen and wished wouldn't happen. You hate to see it when someone invades someone else's privacy and it actually works in their favor. It would be better if she had just learned her lesson and discovered that her boyfriend was just calling his mom every night and talking about how much he loved his boo thing. But alas, he was hiding

something and she found out. The jig was finally up in 2017 when the FBI raided a one-coin sales pitch in Dubai, which ended in 18 arrests. Here's the kicker. The crypto queen? She escaped. To this day, she is still a wanted woman. When she disappeared, her brother became everyone's punching bag for OneCoin gripes, literally. He told the FBI that once the fraud was exposed, OneCoin investors kidnapped him at gunpoint and beat him. And yet, years later, the FBI is no closer to finding the crypto queen. So what did we learn here? Don't let the hype around crypto translate into whispered sweet nothings taken straight from your ears and into your portfolio. Even though the crypto world moves fast, you should do your due diligence and make sure that what you think is an up and

coming cryptocurrency isn't a scam. Here are two things to check to make sure your crypto isn't a catfish. Number one, there is a website for Bitcoin. It's bitcoin.org. For Ethereum, it's ethereum.org. If your cryptocurrency doesn't have a legit looking website, swipe left. Number two, reputable cryptocurrencies publish white papers that detail how their technology works. If the currency you're looking at doesn't have a white paper or give any description of how their technology works, it's possible that their blockchain is the same technology as OneCoins, aka Google Sheets. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. Don't be swept away by what some expert tells you is going to make you rich, whether it's crypto or a startup

investment. Don't accept anything that someone tells you as fact. Not a financial advisor, not a TikTok finance influencer, not even me. I'm not offended. Hell, I am so proud. The best way to take control of your financial life is to take the reins yourself. And that means doing your due diligence to make sure you're not the crypto queen's latest victim. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli.

Executive producers are Nikki Etor and Will Pearson. Our mascots are Penny and Mimsy. Huge thanks to OG Money Rehab team, Michelle Lanz for her development work, Catherine Law for her production and writing magic, and Brandon Dickert for his editing, engineering, and sound design. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.