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Adviser to Fugitive ‘Cryptoqueen’ Behind $4 Billion Scam Vanishes

Frank Schneider, a former spy and sidekick to the fugitive crypto scammer Ruja Ignatova, slipped his ankle monitor and disappeared.

An adviser to Ruja Ignatova—the fugitive “cryptoqueen” who ran a $4 billion cryptocurrency scam—has vanished while awaiting extradition to the United States on fraud and money laundering charges. Frank Schneider, a 53-year-old former spy from Luxembourg, managed to slip away from house arrest in France despite being equipped with an ankle monitor, the BBC reported. Before he went missing, Schneider expressed fears that he wouldn’t get a fair trial in the U.S., and that he wouldn’t be able to pay to defend himself. “I fear that I have not got access to a legal system in which I can defend myself properly,” he said in a podcast appearance. “The system is very much based on so-called plea bargaining. Now, for me, that already is a problem, because I profoundly believe that I’m not guilty.”