A federal judge has sentenced the architect of the PGI CEO $200M bitcoin ponzi scheme to 20 years in prison, closing a chapter in what prosecutors described as a sweeping international fraud that vacuumed up at least $200 million from more than 90,000 investors across the globe.
Ramil Ventura Palafox, the chief executive behind Praetorian Group International, pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and money laundering. On Thursday, sentencing minutes confirmed he will serve 240 months behind bars, followed by three years of supervised release. He has also been ordered to pay $63 million in restitution.
The punishment lands squarely in the middle of a fierce courtroom tug-of-war — with prosecutors seeking more than 21 years and Palafox arguing that a decade would be sufficient given his health and age.
Prosecutors: “Meticulous Lies” Fueled by Greed
In a sentencing memorandum filed earlier this month, federal prosecutors said Palafox’s conduct was not a fleeting lapse in judgment but a calculated, years-long deception built on “meticulous lies” and driven by “unmitigated greed.” They recommended a sentence ranging from 262 to 327 months.
According to the indictment, Palafox — a dual U.S. and Philippines citizen residing in Las Vegas — owned and operated Praetorian Group International and served as its chairman, CEO and chief promoter. From December 2019 through October 2021, investors were told their money would be deployed in bitcoin trading strategies capable of generating steady daily profits.
Those profits, prosecutors said, were fiction.
PGI allegedly promised returns between 0.5% and 3% per day — figures that, compounded over time, would seem almost magical in the volatile cryptocurrency market. But authorities say PGI was not conducting bitcoin trading at the scale necessary to sustain such returns. Instead, investors were paid with their own funds or with money contributed by new participants — the hallmark of a classic Ponzi structure.
