CHARACTERS (SELECTED)

Dr. Ruja Ignatova: visionary founder and boss of the cryptocurrency OneCoin and its sister company OneLife. Born May 1980 in Ruse, Bulgaria. She holds three degrees and speaks five languages fluently. AKA: the Cryptoqueen.

Sebastian Greenwood: Ruja’s Swedish business partner who cofounded OneCoin and OneLife with her in April 2014.

Irina Dilkinska: OneCoin’s head of “legal and compliance.”

Juha Parhiala: the first MLM (multi-level marketing) seller for OneCoin, who was recruited by Sebastian in early 2014.

Igor Alberts: one of the world’s top-earning MLM promoters, and disciple of the legendary American salesman Zig Ziglar.

Gary Gilford: a trained solicitor who became codirector of Ruja’s private “family office” called RavenR. His job was to find ways to invest Ruja’s personal fortune.

Konstantin Ignatov: Ruja’s younger brother (by six years) who became Ruja’s personal assistant in summer 2016.

Mark Scott: a corporate lawyer from Florida who was a partner of the respected firm Locke Lord. He set up and ran the Fenero Funds.

Gilbert Armenta: a Floridian financier who became Ruja’s lover.

Bjørn Bjercke: a Norwegian IT specialist and Bitcoin enthusiast in his early forties who was approached in 2016 with a surprising job offer from OneCoin.

BehindMLM: a website that critiques MLM companies, with a talent for exposing pyramid and Ponzi schemes. Created in 2010 by a man called “Oz.”

Duncan Arthur: head of OneCoin’s e-commerce platform, “Dealshaker,” opened in 2017 with aspirations to become “the next eBay.”

Frank Schneider: a former Luxembourg spy chief and close confidante of Ruja’s, who ran her security and risk management from mid-2015.