The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has arrested Christopher Alexander Delgado, the 34-year-old executive of the purported venture capital firm, Goliath Ventures, for allegedly perpetrating a crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of roughly $328 million.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Florida, Delgado was the president and CEO of Goliath Ventures, formerly called Gen-Z Venture Firm.
DOJ Arrests Man Behind $328M Ponzi
The complaint filed against Delgado accused him of wire fraud and money laundering. The former CEO ran the scheme from January 2023 through January 2026, claiming to invest victims’ funds in crypto liquidity pools.
Delgado promised investors monthly returns while soliciting substantial investments. His victims came from charitable sponsorships, luxury events, professional marketing materials, and personal referrals. To make the scheme appear legitimate, the former Goliath president made some monthly payments to investors as purported returns.
While claiming to invest victims’ funds in crypto protocols, Delgado ran Goliath as a classic Ponzi scheme. He used funds contributed by new investors to pay existing clients, a method that enabled him to garner over $328 million from victims. Besides returning capital to those who requested it, Goliath also used victims’ funds to host lavish business gatherings and holiday parties and to pay for luxury travel accommodations.
Additionally, Delgado spent between $1.15 million and $8.5 million to acquire four residential properties, all of which were purchased with victims’ funds.
Delgado Still Under Investigation
While Delgado awaits trial, the U.S. government has asked Goliath victims to reach out for appropriate proceedings under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
The case is still under investigation by the Homeland Security Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. If found guilty of all the charges, Delgado faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.
Meanwhile, he is not the only company executive recently apprehended for running a crypto Ponzi scheme. As reported last week by CryptoPotato, a U.S. court sentenced Ramil Ventura Palafox, CEO of Praetorian Group International (PGI), to 20 years behind bars for defrauding at least 90,000 investors of $200 million through a Bitcoin-based Ponzi scheme. The 61-year-old Palafox falsely claimed PGI was involved in Bitcoin trading while defrauding investors.
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