- Key insight: A new class action lawsuit alleges JPMorganChase enabled a massive $328 million cryptocurrency fraud by ignoring glaring warning signs.
- What's at stake: During the scheme, the bank transferred approximately $123 million from Goliath's business account to cryptocurrency wallets at Coinbase.
- Supporting data: Between January 2023 and June 2025, the bank allegedly processed $253 million in deposits for the Goliath Ventures scheme.
Overview bullets generated by AI with editorial review
Victims of a Ponzi scheme this week alleged JPMorganChase enabled the $328 million cryptocurrency fraud by ignoring glaring red flags of fraud.
The proposed class action lawsuit, Steele v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., accuses the bank of aiding and abetting the massive fraud orchestrated by Christopher Delgado and his company, Goliath Ventures.
Delgado operated Goliath as a Ponzi scheme from January 2023 through January 2026, soliciting victims to invest in cryptocurrency "liquidity pools," according to a February 2026 criminal complaint filed by federal prosecutors in Florida.
Instead of actually investing the funds, Delgado used new investor money to pay earlier investors and to fund his own lavish lifestyle.
The new lawsuit against JPMorganChase highlights the legal and reputational risks that banks face when their customers use traditional bank accounts to run illicit enterprises but the bank fails to notice.
The allegations also revive ghosts of JPMorganChase's past, drawing direct parallels to the bank's role as the primary financial institution for Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, which lasted from the 1980s (and possibly earlier) until December 2008.
As another major bank recently learned, Ponzi schemes can have a long tail of liability. HSBC announced in October that it would set aside $1.1 billion following an unfavorable ruling in Luxembourg litigation related to Madoff's scheme.
Allegations of ignored warnings
Robby A. Steele, a California resident who invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Goliath scheme, filed the complaint against JPMorganChase this week on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of Goliath victims.
The lawsuit alleges that JPMorganChase ignored numerous "red flags" and enabled the fraud to continue.
Between January 2023 and June 2025, the bank processed approximately $253 million in deposits into a Goliath business account controlled by Delgado, according to the civil complaint and a corresponding federal criminal complaint.
During that same period, the bank transferred roughly $123 million from that account to Goliath's wallets at the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
Spokespersons for JPMorganChase and Coinbase did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit argues that the bank had a front-row seat to the fraud but did nothing to stop it.
"Chase observed repeated cycles in which new deposits were redistributed within short periods of time," according to the civil complaint.
Steele argued that these rapid transfers lacked a legitimate business purpose and resembled the circular payment patterns typical of Ponzi schemes.
Despite these allegedly glaring warning signs, JPMorganChase failed to implement or adhere to anti-money-laundering protocols concerning the investor funds, according to the civil complaint.
Instead, the bank continued to service the accounts and collected substantial economic benefits, including account maintenance fees, wire transfer fees and float income.
Echoes of the Madoff scandal
The Goliath allegations directly mirror accusations the bank faced more than a decade ago regarding its decades-long relationship with Bernard Madoff.
JPMorganChase got the case dismissed, but it later paid regulatory penalties for failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program.
The bank had been "the primary bank through which Madoff ran his Ponzi scheme," according to 2014 prepared remarks from then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Following Madoff's arrest, the bank faced a massive lawsuit from Irving Picard, the trustee appointed to liquidate Madoff's firm.
The trustee claimed the bank "had every reason to know" Madoff was operating a Ponzi scheme but "chose to participate in it," according to a 2011 legal brief filed by Picard's attorneys.
Picard alleged that "billions of dollars" flowed through Madoff's primary account at the bank, but "virtually none of it was used to buy or sell securities," according to the trustee's amended civil complaint.
In June 2013, a federal appeals court dismissed the claims, ruling that the trustee lacked standing to pursue them on behalf of Madoff's customers. The court determined that the trustee could not sue third parties for wrongdoing in which Madoff himself participated.
However, the next year, JPMorganChase agreed to pay a $1.7 billion civil forfeiture to the Department of Justice and a $350 million penalty to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
