Ohio Man Gets 9 Years for $10M Bitcoin Trading Ponzi Scheme

An Ohio investment manager has been sentenced to nine years in prison for orchestrating a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $10 million.

Along with the nine-year sentence, Rathnakishore Giri, 31, of New Albany, received three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in October 2024.

Giri’s scheme involved false promises of guaranteed returns through Bitcoin derivatives trading. Instead of investing funds, the investment manager used money from new victims to pay earlier participants in a “hallmark of a Ponzi scheme.”

According to prosecutors, Giri “created the appearance of success” by presenting himself as a successful, wealthy investor with a garage of luxury cars including two Lamborghinis, a Tesla and an Audi R8, a collection of high-end watches. He also indulged in flights on private jets and luxury vacation rentals.

Per the Ohio Office of Public Affairs, Giri continued the fraud after his admission of guilt. While on pretrial release awaiting sentencing, he solicited funds from new cryptocurrency investors, causing “additional harm to new victims” even as federal prosecutors prepared for his sentencing hearing.

The sentencing comes as cryptocurrency fraud reaches new heights. According to the FBI, Americans lost more than $11 billion to crypto-related crimes in 2025, a 22% increase from the previous year.

Authorities are responding by ramping up enforcement of crypto Ponzi schemes. Last year, two Estonian nationals were sentenced to 16 months in prison for their part in the $577 million HashFlare Ponzi scheme. And in February, the former CEO of crypto investment firm Goliath Ventures was arrested on federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering, after allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme that drew in $328 million. That case has also drawn in finance giant JPMorgan Chase, which was sued a month later over failing to detect and stop the alleged scheme.