CHAPTER 12
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CRYPTOQUEEN
London, May 2016
Early evening on May 30, 2016, dozens of immaculately dressed people were gathered outside the Victoria and Albert Museum on South Kensington’s famous Exhibition Road. The grand old building, whose foundation stone was laid by Queen Victoria, traced its roots back to the Great Exhibition of 1851, which celebrated the nation’s world-beating industry and design. The Great Exhibition was more exciting and dramatic than a thousand Microsoft or Apple launch events. Six million people, including Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Michael Faraday and Karl Marx, marvelled at the wonders of the age: microscopes, barometers and electric telegraphs.
Tonight the museum was rented out to celebrate a modern champion of industry. It was Dr. Ruja’s 36th birthday.
Dr. Ruja’s parties—Christmas and summer every year—were the most sought-after invite for anyone involved in OneCoin. They were always sparkling affairs (this one cost roughly €1 million) and an invite meant recognition. Their location was symbolic too. Over the preceding months, Ruja had been spending more and more time in London. The RavenR Capital family office team had quickly grown to ten staff who were researching potential investments for Ruja—foreign exchange, property, tech companies. When they weren’t researching clever ways to spend Ruja’s personal fortune (Gary Gilford has said that at no point did RavenR London invest on behalf of OneCoin), they were trying to talk her down. Periodically she would arrive in the office, fresh off the flight from Bulgaria, holding a Pret a Manger sandwich and Diet Coke she’d picked up en route and declare that she was considering investing in a sex toy manufacturer or buying a toothpaste factory in China. It would take hours for the director Gary Gilford or others to dissuade her. Holding her party in London was a sign that the balance of gravity was moving slowly away from Sofia and the MLM network, and toward the UK and more serious finance.
Although the network now numbered hundreds of thousands of people, only 150 were lucky enough to receive the gold-on-black art deco invitation:
Please join us as we celebrate this incredible woman’s special day! You are invited to the exclusive Birthday Party of Dr. Ruja Ignatova. Dress code: Dress to impress/black tie.
Everyone who got the gilded invite RSVP’d “yes” immediately. Those lucky few, some of whom had flown halfway across the world for this, made their way into the V&A and were greeted with complimentary pink champagne, oysters, cigars and sushi. Unusually, for a CEO, Ruja often got involved in the planning of the big events, choosing the appetizers, the posters, the free drinks. As far as she was concerned, it was exactly those small details that mattered—they were the things people remembered, the things that created the desired impression.
The guest list was a who’s who of Ruja’s life. The Sofia office and London RavenR Capital staff were there, despite a growing rivalry between them. Sebastian, of course. Old friends from before OneCoin caught up. Asdis Ran, the “Ice Queen.” Ruja’s husband, Björn Strehl. Krassimir Katev, a former Bulgarian government minister, puffed on a Cuban cigar. Her most valuable promoters, like Juha and Kari Wahlroos, mingled and smiled for photos. Not to be outdone, Ruja turned up in the Rolls-Royce Phantom that she’d rented from the Four Seasons Hotel.
Her younger brother Konstantin was wandering around the V&A in a bit of a daze, mostly talking to his parents, Veska and Plamen, about Ruja’s transformation and refusing the free booze. (Konstantin had been teetotal for some years.) It was all so surreal. He followed Ruja’s life from afar and told friends about his increasingly famous big sister, but he hadn’t seen Ruja since her last birthday party in Sofia. He noticed how much richer she’d become in such a short space of time, how expensive her clothes were now, and how all the MLM people were in awe of her. Ruja flirted and flattered the men and complimented the women as she worked the room introducing her sibling. She’d finally learned how to charm people.
Despite their ostentatious conviviality, Konstantin noticed there was an emptiness to the MLM people he was introduced to. All they talked about was money: their cars, their new recruits, their Dolce & Gabbanas, their rank. Conversations revolved around the new downline they’d just opened or their weekly business volumes. Normal human interactions had been hijacked by a commissions parasite that turned everything meaningful into plastic talk disguised by self-help mantras about “first helping others.” They talked about the books they had read, not for enjoyment but to learn how to win friends and influence people. They met relatives for coffee, not to catch up but to propose an exciting new opportunity. Years in MLM does that to people. Only newcomers could ever notice it—after a few months it got inside you. One day it would infect Konstantin too.
Halfway through the night, a five-story crown-topped golden birthday cake was wheeled out, with the words “Happy Birthday Cryptoqueen” iced on top. The singer Tom Jones arrived onstage to perform a private gig, for which he was paid a small fortune. Sebastian and Ruja shared a slow dance, while Juha Parhiala, silver-topped cane in hand, stood at the front and sang to the crowd as Tom Jones looked on. Konstantin took a video of himself dancing and singing along to “Kiss” and posted it on Instagram. Ruja told him off for that. But who knew if something like this would ever happen again?
A few days after the party, Konstantin was at home in Stuttgart when Ruja phoned him. She’d just found out that Sebastian was having an affair with one of her personal assistants. The pair were even considering marriage. When she learned about it, Ruja flew into an irrational rage. Some of her colleagues wondered if jealousy was behind it. There had always been rumors that Sebastian and Ruja were lovers, although no one ever knew for certain. Ruja had meltdowns over innocuous things all the time, and she usually recovered quickly. But, on this occasion, she fired her PA. “I need someone who won’t betray me,” she told Konstantin. “Will you come over and become my personal assistant?”
Konstantin was quite happy where he was. Earning €2,800 a month operating a forklift truck in the nearby Porsche factory wasn’t perfect, but he had friends and a life in Stuttgart. In many ways, he was the polar opposite of his sister. He went to his local gym at least four times a week and volunteered at the dog sanctuary, where he would sometimes take home rescued dogs. He also didn’t understand her business. Downlines and blockchains were ancient Greek to him. But he trusted Ruja and she told him not to worry because his work would mostly involve sorting out travel, arranging meetings, dealing with invoices and picking up her shopping. Even from a very young age, Ruja used to lecture Konstantin about the importance of loyalty. If his big sister, who Konstantin had idolized since childhood, needed him, then of course he would leave Germany. It was also a chance to spend more time with his parents, who’d returned to Sofia as Ruja’s star rose. She promised to pay him more money too.1 Ruja asked Konstantin to quit his job immediately and fly to London for the corporate event taking place in a few days’ time. She wanted him there to hear her big announcement, about “a new blockchain.”