A 59-year-old man from Georgia has been accused of orchestrating a $165 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, defrauding over 6,000 investors worldwide. According to U.S. prosecutors, Edward Zimbardi presented the scheme as 'The Crypto Program,' promising investors a guaranteed 25% return every month on investments of at least $550. However, investigators found that the advertising packages were not generating those returns, and instead, Zimbardi used money from new investors to pay earlier investors. The scheme was reportedly operated from June 2022 through August 2023, with Zimbardi losing tens of millions of dollars on foreign currency bets and spending at least $10 million on personal expenses. Zimbardi fled to Fiji in July 2025 to avoid prosecution, but with 25 charges, including wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, it remains to be seen if he will escape jurisdiction.
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