The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Ramil Ventura Palafox was sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating a Bitcoin Ponzi scheme involving approximately $200 million. Palafox, through its company Praetorian Group International (PGI), promised daily returns of 0.5%–3% to approximately 90,000 investors worldwide, effectively using funds from new investors to pay off older investors. Between December 2019 and October 2021, investors poured in over $201 million (including 8,198 BTC), resulting in losses of at least $62.69 million.