Ex-CEO pleads guilty to $200M bitcoin Ponzi scheme in federal court

The CEO of a multilevel marketing and bitcoin trading firm pleaded guilty Tuesday in Alexandria to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges in a scheme that bilked at least 90,000 investors, including Virginians, out of more than $200 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia

Ramil Ventura Palafox owned and operated Praetorian Group International (PGI) and served as the company’s chairman and CEO. Palafox is a dual citizen of the United States and the Philippines who lives mostly in Las Vegas, according to court documents.

Palafox, 60, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 3, 2026. He faces up to 40 years in prison and has agreed to pay restitution of about $62.7 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

From December 2019 to October 2021, investors pumped more than $201 million into PGI, including more than $30 million in currency and at least 8,198 bitcoin worth more than $171 million. Investors suffered losses totaling at least $62.69 million.

Palafox coaxed investors to give PGI money to be used for bitcoin trading by promising daily returns of between 0.5% and 3%. However, the company was not trading at a scale capable of making those returns, according to court documents. Palafox paid investors back with other investors’ money to create the illusion that their investments had been successful. Investors were also promised payments for recruiting additional investors.

PGI held in-person events across the nation and internationally to persuade individuals to give the company money, according to court documents. One Las Vegas event featured a cannon that shot money into the air. Palafox spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a promotional event in Dubai where PGI promoters were entertained on a luxury yacht and with a desert safari.

Events were held in Alexandria and Norfolk, court documents stated. Palafox was not present at those, but representatives and promoters of PGI presented promotional materials prepared by Palafox.

“Multiple investors were fraudulently induced by Palafox to travel from Virginia to Nevada to give him their investments in person,” the documents stated.

Palafox created a PGI website where investors could see their purported investment performance. Palafox caused the portal to consistently misrepresent that the investments were gaining value from 2020 through 2021.

The wire fraud charge is related to a transmission of more than $200,000 from an investor’s bank account to an account belonging to Palafox in 2021 that used servers located in Virginia.

Palafox spent millions of investors’ money to support the illusion of PGI’s profitability and to cover personal expenses, court documents stated. He spent about $3 million on 20 luxury vehicles, about $329,000 on penthouse suites at a luxury hotel chain and $3 million on clothing, watches, jewlry and home furnishings. He purchased four homes in Las Vegas and Los Angeles worth more than $6 million and  gave $800,00 and 100 bitcoin, then valued at about $3.3 million, to a family member.

An attorney for Palafox declined to comment Thursday night.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jack Morgan and Zoe Bedell appeared at the plea agreement hearing Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria.

In April, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Palafox in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia alleging that Palafox violated the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws through his scheme at PGI. The following month, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ordered that discovery in a civil action be stayed pending the resolution of the criminal prosecution.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.