Here is when the story turns to the writer Bartlett, a technology journalist, who trailed through the dark vestiges of social media, attempting to track the infamous grifter for months, to no avail. In 2019, a promising anonymous source led Barlett ‘very close’ to the Ignatova in Frankfurt, where the trail once again grew cold.
Despite her obvious flaws, Barlett has admiration for Ignatova. ‘She is an unbelievably fascinating person’, he says. ‘She is incredibly brave in a strange sort of way, and a weird figure of obsession to the people that follow her. Our view of her went from “paper thin front person” to “incredibly intelligent and highly skilled” to where I am now, which is – as Ruja says herself in one of the FBI documents – “an expert in dealing in the grey area of life”, and finding gaps in rules and laws’.
Following its dazzling and promising beginning to its unsettled end, the story of The Missing Cryptoqueen leaves audiences frustrated and eager for justice. Ignatova is still missing, presumably enjoying the fortunes of her scams in uncertain freedom, whilst remaining high up on the Interpol wanted list. Whether her past will catch up with her, as Holmes’ and Delvey’s did, remains to be seen.
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