PGI Global
A multi-level-marketing firm led by Ramil Ventura Palafox that claimed AI-powered Bitcoin/forex trading with daily returns up to 3%. Per DOJ/SEC it was a Ponzi: 90,000+ investors put in $201M+; net losses ~$62.7M. Palafox was sentenced in 2026 to 20 years.
Also known as: PGI Global, Praetorian Group International, Ramil Palafox, Ramil Ventura Palafox
Summary
Praetorian Group International (PGI Global) was a multi-level-marketing firm led by Ramil Ventura Palafox that claimed to run AI-powered Bitcoin and foreign-exchange trading, promising daily returns of up to 3%. The DOJ and SEC said it was a Ponzi scheme. [1][2]
Scale and outcome
From late 2019 to 2021, more than 90,000 investors put in over $201 million (including ~8,198 BTC); the DOJ put net investor losses at about $62.7 million. Palafox misappropriated tens of millions for Lamborghinis, homes, and luxury goods. He was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering and sentenced in February 2026 to 20 years in prison; the SEC pursued a parallel civil case. [1][2][3]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (3)
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.
