Ramil Ventura Palafox, 59, is the founder and CEO of PGI Global (Praetorian Group International), a company that operated a large-scale fraudulent investment scheme from January 2020 to October 2021. Palafox, a dual US-Philippine national, promoted PGI Global as a crypto and foreign exchange trading firm, promising investors guaranteed high returns through “membership packages” and an alleged AI-driven trading platform [5,8,11].
Fraud Scheme Details
- The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Palafox with orchestrating a Ponzi-like scheme that raised approximately $198 million from investors worldwide [4,5,8].
- Palafox used multi-level marketing (MLM) tactics, encouraging investors to recruit others with the promise of commissions and referral bonuses [5,8].
- Instead of investing the funds, Palafox misappropriated over $57 million for personal luxury purchases, including cars, watches, homes, and retail goods [5,6,8].
- PGI Global manipulated investor dashboards and faked trading activity to maintain the illusion of legitimate operations10.
- The scheme collapsed in late 2021, and PGI Global UK Ltd was shut down by the UK High Court in 2022 [10,11].
Legal Actions
- The SEC filed charges against Palafox for violating anti-fraud and registration provisions of federal securities laws and is seeking to recover misappropriated funds, impose civil penalties, and permanently bar him from similar activities [5,8,11].
- The US Attorney’s Office has also filed parallel criminal charges against Palafox [5,8,10].
Summary Table
| Name | Company | Alleged Fraud Amount | Key Tactics | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramil Ventura Palafox | PGI Global | $198 million | Ponzi, MLM, fake AI | Facing SEC & criminal charges |
Palafox’s case is considered one of the largest recent crypto-related frauds, with thousands of victims and significant regulatory attention [3,5,8].
Sources:
- https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2025/comp-pr2025-69.pdf
- https://behindmlm.com/companies/pgi-global/pgi-globals-ramil-ventura-palafox-arrested-in-california/
- https://www.bitdegree.org/crypto/news/90000-duped-in-200-million-crypto-scam-sec-charges-pgi-global-ceo
- https://seclaw.com/sec-charges-pgi-global-founder-with-198-million-crypto-asset-and-foreign-exchange-fraud-scheme/
- https://beincrypto.com/sec-crypto-scam-charges/
- https://www.cryptotimes.io/2025/04/23/ramil-palafox-accused-of-198m-crypto-fraud-lavish-spending/
- https://no.beincrypto.com/markten/sec-krypto-svindel-anklager/
- https://www.amlintelligence.com/2025/04/news-sec-charges-pgi-global-founder-with-198m-fraud/
- https://www.businessblunders.com/p/fema-fatale
- https://dig.watch/updates/sec-targets-crypto-executive-in-198-million-ponzi-case
- https://www.unlock-bc.com/141194/sec-sues-pgi-global-ceo-in-198m-crypto-ponzi-scheme-featuring-fake-ai-trading/