PGI Global founder Ramil Palafox was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission today with orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to raise approximately $198 million from global investors and misappropriate more than $57 million of investor funds. According to the SEC indictment, Palafox's company, called PGI Global, describes itself as a crypto asset and forex trading firm. From January 2020 to October 2021, Palafox offered and sold PGI Global's "membership" packages, claiming that these packages guaranteed investors high returns from PGI Global's so-called crypto assets and forex trading, and offered members referral rewards similar to multi-tiered marketing to encourage them to recruit new investors. Palafox misappropriated more than $57 million of investor funds for Lamborghini, luxury retailer merchandise and other personal expenses. He also uses most of the remaining investors 'funds to pay other investors what they call returns and referral rewards through a Ponzi scheme-like approach until the fraud is exposed at the end of 2021. The U.S. SEC has filed a lawsuit in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, accusing Palafox of violating anti-fraud and registration provisions of the federal securities law. The lawsuit seeks permanent injunctive relief, a behavior-based injunction that prohibits Palafox from participating in multi-level marketing plans involving the issuance or sale of securities and the issuance of crypto assets as securities, the recovery of ill-gotten gains and pre-determined interest, and the imposition of civil penalties. The lawsuit also names BBMR Threshold LLC, Darvie Mendoza, Marissa Mendoza Palafox and Linda Ventura as relief defendants and seeks to recover their ill-gotten gains and pre-determined interest.