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Jamie Bartlett

Aug 7, 2020 • 8 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X

Scrolly

Trying something new for the new episode of The Missing Cryptoqueen. For fans of the series who want to know more (or see more) here are a few photos & links about the key characters in episode 9. 1/7

We often excerpt from Ruja’s June 2016 London Arena event. (Including at the start of episode 1). Here she claimed OneCoin was ‘the bitcoin killer’ and announced a ‘new blockchain’.

Her speech in full: 2/7

Her younger brother Konstantin Ignatov - vegan, tee-totaller, MMA expert, tattoo addict - took over OneCoin in mid-2018. This is his last Facebook post before being arrested by the FBI at Los Angeles International Airport in March 2019. Plus mugshot. 3/7

American lawyer Mark Scott at NYSD Court. In November 2019 he was convicted of laundering $400m USD of Ruja’s stolen OneCoin money through something called the Fenero Funds. 4/7 news.bitcoin.com/prosecutors-fi…

There was much more stunning material in the court case. For example Konstantin claims to have been kidnapped at gunpoint & threatened by a branch of the Hell’s Angels. Nice summary from the website BehindMLM:
behindmlm.com/companies/onec… 5/7

Gilbert Armenta, another one of Ruja’s money men, was having an affair with Ruja. But he started working for the FBI to catch her. Here he is with Ruja and OneCoin top boss Sebastian Greenwood in Macau in 2016. 6/7

Frank Schneider. Former top spy from Luxembourg whose private intelligence firm started working for OneCoin in mid 2015. Frank’s firm Sandstone hired the UK PR firm Chelgate to work for OneCoin. 7/7

You can listen to the new episode of #cryptoqueen here:

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

And catch eps1 - 8 too. Stay tuned for more. We’ll be back again soon. /end

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More from @JamieJBartlett

Jamie Bartlett

@JamieJBartlett

Nov 12, 2022

@cz_binance

There are a lot of good but sometimes slightly technical descriptions of what has been going on with FTX & its founder ‘SBF. This is the simplest non-technical way I can describe it to non-crypto people (Ie the 99% of people who have never heard of @cz_binance or Sam etc)

FTX was a crypto-exchange site. It’s a bit like a foreign exchange trading site. People send in £, €, $ and turn it into bitcoin, Ethereum & others. As a result a lot of people’s money - $billions in fact - is held by FTX, mostly in these crypto-assets.

But it seems funds - rather than being held safely on behalf of the investors - were being lent to a hedge fund called Alameda owned / related to SBF.

This is where the confusion starts, because at this point ‘tokens’ enter the story which usually baffles non-crypto ppl

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Jamie Bartlett

@JamieJBartlett

Jun 23, 2022

I have dedicated The Missing Cryptoqueen book to a special group of people. The 'armchair investigators' and 'citizen journalists' who warned everyone about OneCoin long before we started our podcast. The book is about Dr Ruja. But also how ordinary people took her scam down 1/

As OneCoin grew and grew, a small group of curious and brave people started asking questions. Mostly on a niche website called 'BehindMLM'. Even as early as 2014 - just weeks after it's launched - BehindMLM identified it as a ponzi scheme.

behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/on…

@ezCoinAccess

As OneCoin grew, ordinary contributors to BehindMLM (and here too) started to piece together the story. Spending hours each day trying to figure out what the hell was going on & post their research. People like @ezCoinAccess @CryptoXpose @OzDelphi @widell_ari @petterij & more

Read 11 tweets

Jamie Bartlett

@JamieJBartlett

Jun 23, 2022

The Missing Cryptoqueen book is now out!

The story of the multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme OneCoin, crypto-hype, investor FOMO & a missing founder.

Our podcast was just one part of this crazy story. Now here's the rest...

penguin.co.uk/books/112/1120…

@EburyPublishing

As always there are too many people to thank. But especially to @EburyPublishing & brill editors @SuzanneConnelly & @Aagoodfellow. Scores of contributors. And many BBC colleagues, especially @ByrnesyGsy - who is now firmly set as part of our Cryptoqueen team.

@GeorgiaJCatt

But above all, my partner-in-crime-busting, genius producer @GeorgiaJCatt. None of this would be possible without her work, talent & dedication.

And she even co-wrote to foreword too 😃

Read 4 tweets

Jamie Bartlett

@JamieJBartlett

Feb 16, 2021

A short thread on the relationship between social media, hypocrisy and political extremism. It’s been bugging me for years. 1/9

Everyone is a a hypocrite at some level, since it’s impossible to act the same in private and public. However, digital technology has (re)created the widespread belief that hypocrisy is now a defining feature of people in power. 2/9

Why? Because everyone shares everything they do & it’s all saved. It can be dragged out to reveal the gulf between your acts & words. A secret recording or a statement from 10 years ago - which you’ve forgotten or outgrown - can be re-posted and used as proof of bad faith 3/9

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Jamie Bartlett

@JamieJBartlett

Jul 5, 2020

@gemmanewby

Ever feel like politics is one giant reality TV show?

Let me tell you about one of the most bizarre & fascinating interviews I've ever done - which airs today on BBC Radio 4 at 2.45pm. (Final episode of mine & @gemmanewby's series 'Watching Us'). 1/6

It's with Bill Pruitt - a producer on early seasons of The American Apprentice, which starred Donald Trump 2004 - 2015.

Reality TV 'made' Trump. I don't mean 'made him famous'. I mean the producers, including Bill Pruitt, created the Donald Trump you now know. 2/6

Trump wasn't a particularly successful or engaging businessman when they found him. But the TV format required that - so Pruitt & colleagues had to edit a 'version' of Trump into existence: making him look more shrewd & more impressive than he really was. Listen here: 3/6

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Jamie Bartlett

@JamieJBartlett

May 15, 2019

I can’t believe what I’m seeing! While running a facial recognition pilot, one man (understandably imho) covered himself up. The police forced him to show his face (& then fined him for disorderly conduct). This is dangerous & terrifying.

If this is rolled out, there will be hundreds - probably thousands - who will do exactly what this man has done: principled refusal to comply. What will the police do then?