Florida man charged by CFTC over $397 million crypto Ponzi scheme

A Florida man is facing fresh charges from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission after the agency says he misappropriated $48 million of customers' money for his own personal use, including a yacht, luxury clothes and grooming for his pets. 

On Tuesday, in a complaint filed in a Florida U.S. District court, the CFTC said Christopher Delgado and his company Goliath Ventures Inc. were part of a Ponzi scheme where they solicited and accepted funds from customers, but then lied about putting those funds in crypto liquidity pools in decentralized exchanges. 

Instead, they allegedly used the funds for new customers to show they were making money and for Delgado's personal expenses, among other things, the agency said in the complaint. 

"... Defendants used corporate credit cards to spend at least $21 million of additional customer money, including over $4.9 million on world travel; $2.9 million on luxury apparel, jewelry, and travel concierge services; and over $400,000 on school tuition, soccer expenses, and educational tutoring for Delgado’s children as well as pet grooming," the CFTC said in the complaint. 

Over 1,600 customers gave $397 million to Goliath, the CFTC said.

In a statement, CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the agency would continue to find bad actors while pursuing rulemaking. 

"We will 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," Selig said. 

The SEC also filed charges against Delgado and Goliath on Tuesday, the CFTC said. 

In June, Delgado pleaded guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each fraud count and up to 10 years for the money laundering issue.