Alleged mastermind of $165M crypto Ponzi scheme faces US charges

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7. Alleged mastermind of $165M crypto Ponzi scheme faces US charges

The alleged mastermind of a $165 million digital asset Ponzi scheme has been deported back to the United States from Fiji to face wire fraud and money laundering charges, the U.S. Justice Department has announced.

After being deported from Fiji earlier this month, 59-year-old U.S. citizen Edward Zimbardi appeared in court to address charges of orchestrating an alleged Ponzi scheme called “The Crypto Program.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Zimbardi—originally of Flowery Branch, Georgia—allegedly sold The Crypto Program, through promotional videos and websites, as an opportunity to invest in advertising packages with a guaranteed 25% monthly return. Investors were encouraged to pay for the packages by moving digital currency into wallets that Zimbardi secretly controlled, with thousands of investors sending more than $165 million to said wallets between June 2022 and August 2023.

However, instead of using investments to buy advertising packages, Zimbardi allegedly gambled more than $34 million on risky foreign currency bets, losing substantial money in the process and forcing him to use funds from later investors to pay earlier investors, in order to keep the scheme going. He also allegedly spent at least $10 million on personal expenses, including buying a house for his son, purchasing luxury vehicles, and making alimony payments to his ex-wife.