CryptoFX
A Houston-based operation that the SEC says was a $300M Ponzi scheme targeting 40,000+ predominantly Latino investors with promises of 15–100% returns from crypto and forex trading. The SEC halted it in 2022 and later charged 17 network leaders; founder Mauricio Chavez pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
Also known as: CryptoFX, CryptoFX LLC
Summary
CryptoFX, LLC, founded and controlled by Mauricio Chavez in Houston, Texas, claimed to trade crypto and foreign-exchange markets, promising returns of roughly 15–100%. The SEC says that from May 2020 to October 2022 it raised about $300 million from more than 40,000 mostly Latino investors across the U.S. and two other countries — but was a Ponzi scheme. [1][2]
Mechanism
Per the SEC, Chavez used more than 90% of investor funds to pay fake returns, commissions, and his own lifestyle rather than for the promised trading; co-principal Giorgio Benvenuto allegedly diverted funds as well. The SEC obtained an emergency halt in September 2022 and, in 2024, charged 17 additional CryptoFX "network leaders." [1][2]
Outcome
Chavez pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced to prison (reported at 21 months); the SEC's parallel and follow-on civil actions sought disgorgement and penalties from the principals and promoters. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
See also
World Liberty Financial (WLFI) — Justin Sun token freezeProjectsWLFI, a DeFi project linked to Donald Trump and his family, blacklisted/froze the wallet of major investor Justin Sun in Sept 2025 — ~540–595M unlocked WLFI tokens (~$107M) plus ~2.4B locked. Sun sued, alleging an undisclosed admin 'blacklist backdoor'; WLFI denied it and threatened a countersuit. The dispute is ongoing.
Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
