Ramil Palafox
Founder of PGI (Praetorian Group International), which raised $201M+ as a Bitcoin Ponzi/MLM scheme (2020–2021). He pleaded guilty in 2025 to wire fraud and money laundering and was sentenced in February 2026 to 20 years in prison.
Also known as: Ramil Ventura Palafox
Bio
Ramil Ventura Palafox, of Las Vegas, founded PGI (Praetorian Group International), which marketed itself as a crypto and forex trading company. From January 2020 to October 2021 he sold "membership" packages promising guaranteed high returns and MLM-style referral rewards, recruiting more than 90,000 investors and taking in at least 8,198 BTC. The SEC said he raised about $198 million (the DOJ cited $201M+) and misappropriated more than $57 million for Lamborghinis, real estate, and luxury goods, paying earlier investors with new investor money. [1][2]
Legal outcome
The SEC charged Palafox in April 2025, alongside a parallel criminal case in the Eastern District of Virginia. He pleaded guilty in September 2025 to wire fraud and concealment money laundering and, in February 2026, was sentenced to 20 years in prison with roughly $62.7 million in restitution. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (2)
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
