Ohio investment manager gets nine-year sentence over $10 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme

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Ohio crypto Ponzi scheme sentence

Highlights

Rathnakishore Giri of New Albany, Ohio, was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to a $10 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.
Giri falsely promised guaranteed principal and high returns on Bitcoin derivatives, using new investors’ funds to pay off earlier participants and repeatedly misleading clients.
The case highlights escalating U.S. Department of Justice enforcement against cryptocurrency fraud, underscoring risks for investors in unregulated digital asset markets.

Sentencing details and fraud conduct

As reported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Rathnakishore Giri, 31, of New Albany, Ohio, was sentenced today to nine years in prison and three years of supervised release for running a cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme. Prosecutors said he raised more than $10 million from investors by presenting himself as an expert cryptocurrency trader focused on Bitcoin derivatives and by promising high returns without risk to principal.

Court documents say Giri falsely guaranteed that investors would get their principal back, while in reality he often used money from new investors to repay earlier participants, a hallmark of a Ponzi scheme. The department said he also had a record of investment failures and a long history of losing investor principal, while misleading clients about delays when they tried to withdraw funds or recover what he had described as guaranteed capital.

Giri pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of wire fraud. After that plea, and while on pretrial release awaiting sentencing, he continued to solicit funds from cryptocurrency investors, causing additional harm to new victims, according to prosecutors.

Enforcement response and wider market implications

The FBI investigated the case, with the announcement made by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division and Jason Cromartie, special agent in charge of the FBI's Cincinnati Field Office. Acting Deputy Chief Lucy B. Jennings and Trial Attorney Tamara Livshiz of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section prosecuted the matter.

The case adds to continuing U.S. enforcement action against cryptocurrency investment fraud, an area where promises of outsized returns and principal protection remain a recurring warning sign for retail investors. For the Ohio market, the sentence underscores the legal and financial risks tied to unverified digital asset managers and informal investment solicitations.

Our earlier coverage of Elnar Zarbailov’s sentencing outlined how federal prosecutors said a Staten Island businessman helped launder nearly $1.5 million tied to a larger health care fraud network. We described the alleged use of shell companies, false records, and overseas transfers to move Medicare and private-insurer proceeds while bypassing bank controls, and noted the DOJ’s focus on dismantling the broader organization behind the scheme.

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