Gergana Kamenova, as depicted in an Instagram post on the Kamenov Collection account, was murdered in Constantia, Cape Town, in 2023. (Photo: Instagram) | Krasimir Kamenov was among the four people murdered in Constantia, Cape Town, on 25 May 2023. He was wanted by Bulgarian authorities. (Photo: Interpol website. Image sharpened by AI) A quadruple murder in a plush Cape Town suburb sparked an array of suspicions that connect to several countries and crimes, including shady diamond deals, a global crypto scam and an attempt to capture Bulgaria’s law enforcement.
The case made news internationally.
Now, three years later, while suspicions and claims still swirl, the case remains open.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Caryn-Prigozhin-toxic-web-2.jpg "The murdered Krasimir Kamenov was wanted by Bulgarian authorities. (Photo: Interpol website. Image sharpened by AI)")
There has been no official announcement from South African authorities about who orchestrated and carried out the killings of Krasimir Kamenov and three others in his home in Evergreen Lane, Constantia.
Kamenov, his wife Gergana and two of their employees, all from Bulgaria, were fatally shot on 25 May 2023.
The two employees were Slava Sergieva and Dean Evgeniev (although several media reports have named him as Dean Genov).
Fresh theories versus ‘nothing new’
Earlier this month, a Bulgarian news publication reported on uncorroborated claims that Kamenov was murdered because he had been caught up in local clashes involving drugs, nightclub security and the 28s gang.
Similar rumours have done the rounds before.
Last week, Daily Maverick asked the Western Cape police if there had been any progress in the Kamenov case.
Constable Ndakhe Gwala replied: “Kindly be advised that there are no new developments to report at this stage.”
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Male-23.jpg "The above image, released by Western Cape police in 2024, was one of two photographs showing two men who may have information on the quadruple murder in Constantia the previous year. (Photo: South African Police Service)")
A year after the killings, in 2024, police in the Western Cape announced the only leads in the case ever to be officially publicised – they released two photographs that appeared to be stills from CCTV footage.
These showed two men whom the police wanted to question in connection with the quadruple murder.
At the time of releasing the photographs, police said six suspects were spotted fleeing the Kamenov home in a blue Hyundai and white VW Golf GTI, presumably after the killings.
A police statement added: “Later, two people were seen under a bridge on the N1 driving a white VW Passat and the same VW Golf GTI from the scene.”
Diamonds and drugs
Daily Maverick has established that there are some suspicions that Kamenov was connected to transnational drug trafficking involving shipments of cocaine entering South Africa.
While that has not been proven, Kamenov was associated with Angelo Dimov.
Dimov and his wife, Nezabravka ‘Nessie’ Peeva, were murdered in February 2018 in a home they were renting in Bergvliet, a suburb about 5km from Constantia.
At the time, Dimov was facing criminal charges related to a credit card scam in a case dating back to 2008, and was also suspected of drug dealings.
As for Kamenov, suspicions still linger that he was also involved in the illicit diamond trade and drug smuggling.
Gergana had run an enterprise known as the Kamenov Collection, an online business that offered diamonds, gemstones and custom-designed jewellery.
Policing sources previously questioned whether thieves targeting some of those items were behind the killings.
The personal trainer
While the murder case itself now appears stagnant, matters extending from it have recently developed.
This has happened in South Africa and abroad.
In a local matter, Daily Maverick revealed that Stanislav Stamenov, who had known Kamenov, was offering his services at a Virgin Active gym in Constantia.
Stamenov is a convicted drug trafficker facing a prison sentence in Romania, which wants him extradited.
When he was arrested at the end of February, weeks after Daily Maverick revealed who he was, it was at a residence in Evergreen Lane in Constantia.
The home belongs to the Kamenov Trust, which is linked to Kamenov.
This suggests connections between Stamenov and Kamenov.
Last week, Stamenov remained on international police organisation Interpol’s “red notice” list – meaning he is still considered wanted in another country – Romania.
Bulgaria and politics
Meanwhile, on the international front, sources linked to local policing recently told Daily Maverick that, beyond suspicions about drugs and diamonds, the main theory underpinning the quadruple Kamenov murder case relates to politics in Bulgaria.
Bulgaria’s former chief prosecutor, Ivan Geshev, who was dismissed from that post a month after Kamenov was murdered, had been vocal about the killing.
Read more: Gangsters in government: State Capture parallels between South African and Bulgarian criminals
He previously claimed that Kamenov was involved in driving a State Capture-style plot to have him removed from office.
About six weeks before the murders in Constantia, the prosecutor’s office in Bulgaria had also publicised an alleged evidence bundle suggesting that Kamenov was among a group in Bulgaria monitoring heavyweight political figures there.
Aside from the State Capture suspicions, Kamenov was also accused of being involved in the murder of a former policeman, Lyubomir Ivanov, who was fatally shot in Sofia in March 2023.
Ivanov reportedly had details about what happened to Ruja Ignatova, of Bulgaria, who is wanted in the US.
Ongoing Cryptoqueen search
Daily Maverick has reported that Kamenov may have also had information about her.
Ignatova allegedly headed a global crypto scam involving billions of dollars that operated under various names, including OneCoin and OneLife.
She effectively disappeared in October 2017, and several reports subsequently suggested she had been murdered.
Kamenov may have planned to provide, or been providing, information about Ignatova to US authorities before his murder.
German police previously indicated they were looking into whether Ignatova was in South Africa. (Her brother has visited here before.)
There have been recent developments involving Ignatova.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20568654991_5e809c0a26_o-e1724261908135-1.jpg "Ruja Ignatova. (Image: Ruja Ignatova – The Coin / X)")
Last month, the US Department of Justice announced that it had launched a “remission compensation process” for eligible OneCoin victims.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) New York field office assistant director, James Barnacle Junior, also appeared to suggest Ignatova was still alive.
“Our office will continue its investigative pursuit of these criminal fraudsters – especially locating Ruja Ignatova, an FBI Top Ten Fugitive,” he said. DM