Georgia Man Charged Over Alleged $165 Million Crypto Ponzi Scheme
Edward Zimbardi faces federal wire fraud and cash laundering costs over an alleged $165 million crypto Ponzi scheme. Fijian authorities deported the 59-year-old Georgia resident to the United States on August 14.
Zimbardi appeared earlier than a federal Justice of the Peace decide in Los Angeles on Monday. Prosecutors need him held within the custody of the US Marshals Service pending additional proceedings within the Northern District of Georgia.
How The Crypto Ponzi Scheme Allegedly Raised $165 Million
According to the press launch, Zimbardi marketed an alleged Ponzi scheme known as The Crypto Program between June 2022 and August 2023. This was an funding providing constructed round promoting packages. Buyers have been promised a assured 25% return each month.
Investors paid by transferring cryptocurrency into wallets Zimbardi secretly managed. Over 6,000 buyers despatched greater than $165 million to these wallets.
However, Zimbardi allegedly invested greater than $34 million in dangerous foreign-currency bets and misplaced substantial sums as an alternative of shopping for promoting packages.
He then used deposits from later investors to pay earlier ones. At least $10 million went towards private spending, together with a home for his son, luxurious autos, and alimony funds to his ex-wife.
“Zimbardi allegedly tricked hundreds of individuals to put money into his ‘Crypto Program’ with false guarantees of monumental returns. Instead, he spent the cash on dangerous foreign money trades, funds to early buyers, and treating himself to a home and costly autos,” US Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said.
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Fiji Deportation Ends a Year on the Run
The Crypto Program collapsed in August 2023, and buyers misplaced their cash. Zimbardi then went to Hawaii, Fiji, and different areas.
He fled to Fiji in July 2025 after changing into conscious of the FBI investigation and stayed there for greater than a yr, prosecutors say. In May 2026, he canceled plans to attend his son’s wedding ceremony in Virginia, accurately suspecting brokers would attempt to arrest him.
A federal grand jury indicted him on July 8 2026, on 12 counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of cash laundering, and one rely of cash laundering conspiracy. Fijian authorities deported him on August 14 in coordination with the FBI and the US Department of State.
The case arrives as US crypto fraud losses surge. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) logged 181,565 cryptocurrency complaints in 2025 with reported losses above $11.36 billion, a 22% enhance over 2024.
The FBI is now asking Crypto Program investors to submit information about their losses for potential restitution. The indictment accommodates costs solely, and Zimbardi is presumed harmless except prosecutors show guilt at trial.
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