PGI Global CEO sentenced to 20 years for $200M bitcoin and forex Ponzi scheme
A U.S. federal judge has sentenced Ramil Ventura Palafox, 61, the CEO of Praetorian Group International (PGI), to 20 years in prison for running an international Ponzi scheme that purported to invest client money in bitcoin and foreign-exchange trading.
Prosecutors say Palafox lured more than 90,000 investors between late 2019 and 2021 with promises of daily returns as high as 3%. PGI collected over $201 million from those investors, including more than 8,000 bitcoin, according to court records. Rather than investing the funds, investigators allege Palafox used new investor money to pay earlier clients and siphoned millions for his personal use, draining more than $62.7 million in assets.
To sustain the fraud, Palafox created an online portal that showed fabricated account balances and fake trading profits, giving victims the illusion their investments were growing. In reality, prosecutors say he lavished the proceeds on a luxury lifestyle—buying Lamborghinis, high-end homes in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, penthouse hotel suites, and spending roughly $3 million on cars and another $3 million on designer clothing, watches, and jewelry.
The case was investigated by the FBI and IRS. Victims may be eligible for restitution, and the Securities and Exchange Commission is pursuing civil penalties. Palafox also remains barred from handling securities. The sentence underscores the continuing risks in the crypto and forex sectors from operators promising outsized, guaranteed returns.
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