Lamborghinis, Not Trades: SEC Says PGI Global Founder Ramil Palafox Took $57 Million in $198 Million Crypto and Forex Scheme

Published Oct. 12, 2026. Case statuses are current as of that date, based on SEC records.

PGI Global sold "membership" packages that it said guaranteed high returns from crypto and foreign exchange trading, and it paid members to recruit more members. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the trading was largely a cover.

On April 22, 2025, the SEC charged Ramil Palafox, the founder of PGI Global, with orchestrating a scheme that raised about $198 million from investors worldwide and with misappropriating more than $57 million of investor funds [1].

What the SEC alleges

According to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [1][2]:

• The pitch. From January 2020 through October 2021, Palafox sold PGI Global membership packages that he claimed guaranteed high returns from crypto asset and forex trading.
• Recruiting incentives. Members were offered multi-level-marketing-style referral rewards to bring in new investors.
• Where the money went. The SEC alleges Palafox spent more than $57 million of investor funds on Lamborghinis, luxury goods and other personal expenses, and used most of the rest to pay other investors their purported returns and referral rewards "in a Ponzi-like scheme" until it collapsed in late 2021.

"Instead of trading, Palafox bought himself and his family cars, watches, and homes using millions of dollars of investor funds," said Scott Thompson, associate director of the SEC's Philadelphia Regional Office [1]. Laura D'Allaird, chief of the SEC's Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit, said his "false claims of crypto industry expertise and a supposed AI-powered auto-trading platform were just masking an international securities fraud" [1].

Charges and status

The SEC charges Palafox with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. It seeks permanent injunctions; conduct-based injunctions barring him from multi-level-marketing programs involving securities and from crypto offerings sold as securities; disgorgement with interest; and civil penalties [1][3].

The complaint names BBMR Threshold LLC, Darvie Mendoza, Marissa Mendoza Palafox and Linda Ventura as relief defendants. That means the SEC says they received investor money, not that they did anything wrong [1].

The SEC said Palafox was arraigned in federal court in a parallel criminal case brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia [1]. We did not review the criminal docket for this article, and he is presumed innocent of those charges unless proven guilty. As of Oct. 12, 2026, we found no later SEC judgment on sec.gov.

MLM meets crypto

Schemes that pair "guaranteed" trading profits with recruitment bonuses are a long-running SEC enforcement theme. When payouts depend on bringing in new members, the structure can keep paying early investors long after the money has gone. The SEC points investors to its resources on pyramid schemes posing as MLM programs [1].

What an SEC civil case is (and isn't)

The SEC is a civil regulator. When it "charges" someone, it files a lawsuit in federal court or brings an administrative proceeding asking for remedies such as injunctions, repayment of allegedly ill-gotten gains (disgorgement), civil money penalties and industry bars. It cannot send anyone to prison. Criminal charges, when there are any, are brought separately by federal prosecutors, and a defendant in a criminal case is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Allegations in an SEC complaint are claims the agency must prove in court unless a defendant settles. When a defendant settles "without admitting or denying" the allegations, the court or the Commission enters an order, but the defendant has not conceded that the allegations are true. Throughout this article, statements about what happened are allegations or findings as described by the SEC, not established facts, unless we say a court entered a judgment or a defendant pleaded guilty.

Red flags in this case

• 'Guaranteed' returns from crypto or forex trading.
• Bonuses for recruiting new investors.
• Claims of a secret 'AI-powered auto-trading' platform.
• Withdrawals that slow or stop while recruiting continues.

How to check an investment before you hand over money

• Look up the person and the firm on Investor.gov and FINRA BrokerCheck. A clean search is not proof of legitimacy, but a missing or mismatched record is a reason to stop.
• Read the offering documents yourself, and ask a fee-only professional you found independently to read them too.
• Be skeptical of "guaranteed" or fixed high returns. Real investments carry risk, and promises of safety plus high yield are a classic warning sign.
• Be wary of pressure. Deadlines, "limited allocations" and repeated calls are sales tactics, not investment analysis.
• Don't let trust in a group replace due diligence. Fraud often spreads through churches, ethnic and professional communities, online chat groups and friends-of-friends referrals.

If you think you were affected

1. Keep everything: account statements, emails, texts, wire and payment records, and any marketing material.
2. Report it to the SEC at sec.gov/tcr. If a criminal case is involved, you can also contact the FBI at ic3.gov or the prosecutors' victim-witness office.
3. Watch for a receiver or fair fund. In some SEC cases, money is later returned to harmed investors through a court-appointed receiver or a distribution fund. Notices are posted on sec.gov.
4. Beware of "recovery" offers. People who lost money are often targeted again by scammers promising to recover it for an upfront fee. Legitimate receivers and the SEC do not charge you to file a claim.

Case status (as of Oct. 12, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 12, 2026	Source
Ramil Palafox (Ramil Ventura Palafox), founder of PGI Global	U.S. District Court, E.D. Va. (SEC civil)	Sued April 22, 2025; no later SEC judgment found on sec.gov. Arraigned on parallel criminal charges per SEC; presumed innocent	[1], [3]
BBMR Threshold LLC; Darvie Mendoza; Marissa Mendoza Palafox; Linda Ventura	E.D. Va.	Relief defendants only (not accused of wrongdoing)	[1]

Statuses can change. SEC allegations are claims, not findings of wrongdoing, unless a court has ruled.

Sources

1. SEC Press Release 2025-69, "SEC Charges PGI Global Founder with $198 Million Crypto Asset and Foreign Exchange Fraud Scheme," April 22, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-69
2. SEC complaint, SEC v. Palafox (E.D. Va.). https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2025/comp-pr2025-69.pdf
3. SEC Litigation Release No. 26295, April 29, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26295

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