CEO who bought Ferrari, Versace, luxury homes pleads guilty to $200M Bitcoin scam

Ramil Palafox, the chief executive officer of a Bitcoin trading and multi-level marketing firm, pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering on Sep. 16, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

Palafox is 60 years old and is a dual citizen of the U.S. and the Philippines. He owned and operated Praetorian Group International (PGI) where he also served as chairman, CEO, and chief promoter. At PGI, he operated a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 90,000 investors.

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Though Palafox claimed that PGI was conducting Bitcoin trading and promising daily returns of 0.5%-3% to its customers, such high returns couldn't be delivered because of the modest scale of the firm's operations, the statement said.

However, Palafox kept paying the investors back with their own or other traders' deposited funds, the DoJ claimed. He also created a website for customers to check the performance of their holdings but the portal "consistently and fraudulently" misled the investors into thinking that their investments were growing during 2020-21, it added.

At least 90,000 individuals from across the world invested more than $201 million in PGI from December 2019 to October 2021. The scam at the platform resulted in investors losing at least $62.6 million.Signage outside the US Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023.

Spent millions of dollars on homes, luxury cars, and more

Palafox spent approximately $3 million to buy 20 luxury vehicles from manufacturers like Porsche, Lamborghini, McClaren, Ferrari, BMW, and Bentley. He also spent more than $6 million to buy four homes in Las Vegas and Los Angeles worth more than $6 million.

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Luxury shopping at retailers like Gucci, Versace, Ferragamo, Valentino, Cartier, Rolex, and Hermes also cost him $3 million.

The PGI boss made a transfer of at least $800,000 in fiat currency and 100 BTC, then worth around $3.3 million, to one of his family members.

Up to 40 years in prison

Palafox is scheduled to be sentenced in February next year and could face up to 40 years in prison.

As part of his plea agreement, he will pay restitution of $62.6 million, the DoJ said.

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Sep 20, 2025, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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