CEO of Praetorian Group International pleads guilty to defrauding Bitcoin worth 200 million dollars.

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Ramil Palafox, the CEO of a Bitcoin trading company that combines a multi-level marketing model, pleaded guilty to telecommunications fraud and money laundering on September 16, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Palafox, 60 years old, holds dual citizenship in America and the Philippines. He is the owner and operator of Praetorian Group International (PGI), and also serves as the chairman, CEO, and chief promoter. At PGI, Palafox has operated a Ponzi scheme, defrauding over 90,000 investors.

Although Palafox claims that PGI conducts Bitcoin transactions and guarantees daily profits of 0.5%–3%, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, this level of profit is not feasible due to the modest scale of the company's operations. Instead, Palafox uses the funds from old investors or new investors to pay profits.

He also set up a website for customers to track their investments, but this portal "constantly and fraudulently" reported incorrectly, leading investors to believe that their assets were growing during the period of 2020–2021.

At least 90,000 people worldwide have invested over 201 million USD in PGI from December 2019 to October 2021. As a result, investors suffered losses of at least 62.6 million USD.

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