CFTC Sues Crypto Firm Goliath Ventures Over $397M Ponzi Scheme
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged Goliath Ventures Inc. and its CEO, Christopher Delgado, with running a massive Ponzi scheme that targeted cryptocurrency investors.
Roughly 1,600 customers contributed at least $397 million to the scheme, which was built on fraudulent solicitations for Bitcoin and Ether trading. Delgado and his company misappropriated all customer funds, using them to fund personal spending and issue false account statements showing profits that did not exist.
The CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction under the Commodity Exchange Act. This case marks one of several crypto-Ponzi actions brought by the agency this year, with another case involving Trevor L. Vernon and Argent Capital Management LLC already in court.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig stated that the agency would 'continue to aggressively police fraud, abuse, and manipulation in the crypto asset markets to ensure that bad actors are punished, while developing clear rules of the road so that good actors have the opportunity to build on American soil.'