TL;DR:
- JPMorgan faces a class action lawsuit for allegedly facilitating a $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme operated by Goliath Ventures.
- The lawsuit alleges that JPMorgan ignored suspicious transactions and allowed Goliath to use its infrastructure to raise funds from more than 2,000 investors.
- Christopher Delgado, CEO of Goliath, was arrested on February 24 and could face up to 30 years in federal prison if found guilty.
A group of investors filed on March 10 a proposed class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing JPMorgan of having ignored suspicious transactions and allowing Goliath Ventures to use its banking infrastructure to raise funds from investors in what is described as a $328 million Ponzi scheme.
According to the lawsuit, JPMorgan was Goliath’s sole banking institution from January 2023 through May or June 2025. During that period, approximately $253 million was deposited into the account identified as 0305, representing nearly two-thirds of the total funds raised. Of that amount, around $123 million was transferred to Goliath wallets held at Coinbase.
What Was JPMorgan’s Role?
The lawsuit argues that the bank, under its Know Your Customer (KYC) obligations, had sufficient information to identify that Goliath was operating as a private equity cryptocurrency fund without any license to market those investments. The filing states that the bank would have ignored this situation despite the alerts that the flow of funds should have triggered.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced on February 24 the arrest of Christopher Delgado, CEO of Goliath, who could face a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison if convicted on all charges. Prosecutors indicated that Goliath Ventures, formerly known as Gen-Z Venture Firm, carried out the scheme from January 2023 through January 2026.
Funds and Transactions Under Scrutiny
A parallel criminal complaint filed by the federal government also references Goliath’s bank accounts at Bank of America, where Delgado was listed as a co-signer. Investor funds flowed primarily into the JPMorgan account, the Bank of America account, or directly to Goliath’s wallets at Coinbase, of which Delgado was the sole authorized signer.
The lawsuit was filed by the firms Shaw Lewenz, Sonn Law Group, and Schwartzbaum. The first named plaintiff, Robby Alan Steele, stated that he invested $650,000, including retirement funds. Attorney Jordan Shaw of Shaw Lewenz indicated that additional lawsuits will be filed as the team continues to identify victims and parties it considers complicit in the scheme.
