PANews reported on April 23 that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today accused Ramil Palafox, founder of PGI Global, of orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that raised approximately $198 million from global investors and misappropriated over $57 million in investor funds.
According to the SEC's complaint, Palafox's company, PGI Global, claimed to be a crypto asset and forex trading company. From January 2020 to October 2021, Palafox offered and sold "membership" packages for PGI Global, claiming these packages guaranteed investors high returns from PGI Global's purported crypto asset and forex trading, and provided multi-level marketing-like referral rewards to encourage members to recruit new investors. Palafox misappropriated over $57 million in investor funds, using them to purchase Lamborghinis, luxury retail goods, and other personal expenses. He also used most of the remaining investor funds to pay supposed returns and referral rewards to other investors in a Ponzi-like scheme until the fraud was exposed by the end of 2021.
The U.S. SEC has filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia, accusing Palafox of violating the anti-fraud and registration provisions of federal securities laws. The lawsuit seeks permanent injunctive relief, conduct-based injunctions prohibiting Palafox from participating in multi-level marketing plans involving securities issuance or sale and crypto asset issuance as securities trading, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. The lawsuit also names BBMR Threshold LLC, Darvie Mendoza, Marissa Mendoza Palafox, and Linda Ventura as relief defendants, seeking to recover their ill-gotten gains and prejudgment interest.
