Feds say he ran a $165M crypto scam and fled to Fiji. He’s back and facing charges.
A Georgia man is facing federal wire fraud and money laundering charges after officials say he tricked people out of $165 million in an international cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.
Edward Zimbardi, who federal prosecutors call the alleged mastermind of a crypto investment scheme, fled to the remote islands of Fiji to avoid prosecution, according to U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg.
Zimbardi ran what he called “The Crypto Program,” which was advertised online as “an opportunity to invest in advertising packages with a guaranteed 25% monthly return,” prosecutors said. Investors were encouraged to pay for these packages by moving cryptocurrency into wallets that Zimbardi secretly controlled.
In total, investors sunk at least $165 million into his program. But instead of actually investing the funds in advertising packages, he gambled more than $34 million on “risky foreign currency bets,” paid early investors with the money from new investors, and spent $10 million on personal expenses, including luxury cars and alimony payments to his ex-wife, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“When his scam imploded, he allegedly tried to evade federal prosecution by fleeing to the other side of the world,” Hertzberg said in a news release. “Thanks to law enforcement and diplomatic authorities in Fiji and the United States, Zimbardi is back on American soil and will face trial.”
Zimbardi couldn’t be reached for comment on Monday, and as of Tuesday morning he hasn’t yet had an attorney make an appearance on his behalf in the federal criminal case or in a civil lawsuit related to the same alleged scam.
The crypto program fell apart in 2023, after which prosecutors say Zimbardi traveled the world and lived in Fiji. The FBI was planning to confront him in May this year at his son’s wedding in Virginia, but Zimbardi canceled his plans to attend to avoid capture, officials said.
FBI agents coordinated with Fiji officials and brought him back to the U.S. after he was deported from the South Pacific country, prosecutors said.
He was charged with 12 counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of money laundering, and one count of money laundering conspiracy in the Northern District of Georgia, according to prosecutors.
Zimbardi is also facing a civil lawsuit in Georgia federal court from one of the purported victims of the Ponzi scheme, filed last summer, court documents show. LeeAnn Harper of Canada says she lost nearly $263,000 of the money she invested in his program.
Her lawsuit argues Zimbardi “created a veneer of legitimacy” with fake websites and dashboards and used social media groups to encourage her and others to “recruit further participants, thereby entrenching the scheme’s multilevel marketing aspects.”
In June 2023, California’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued a cease and desist against Zimbardi for allegedly violating the state’s securities laws and misleading investors.