The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed separate civil actions Tuesday against Goliath Ventures and its founder, Christopher Delgado, over what both agencies describe as a roughly $400 million crypto Ponzi scheme. According to the SEC, Goliath told investors their money would be placed into crypto liquidity pools that generated monthly returns of 3% to 10% from trading fees while preserving principal. The regulator says that did not happen. Instead, investor funds and crypto assets were allegedly not deployed into any liquidity pool at all, and money from newer and existing investors was used to cover earlier payouts while account balances and performance figures were falsified. The SEC also alleges that Delgado misappropriated at least $51 million for personal spending. The CFTC said about 1,600 customers put in at least $397 million for supposed Bitcoin and Ether trading that had no real trading activity behind it. Delgado had already pleaded guilty on June 30 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, but that development does not mean investor recovery is close. Court approval and enforcement steps still lie ahead.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a civil lawsuit against Florida-based Goliath Ventures Inc. and its chief executive, Christopher Delgado, alleging the firm raised at least $397 million from about 1,600 customers by claiming it would deploy bitcoin and ether into decentralized exchange liquidity pools, while never placing any customer money into such pools. According to the complaint filed in federal court in Orlando, the company operated the scheme from at least November 2022 through February 2026, diverted all customer funds, and sent account statements showing profits it had not actually generated. The CFTC said roughly $87 million of customer money was used to pay other customers, about $174 million went to Goliath directors and staff, often as recruiting commissions, and at least $48 million was taken by Delgado for luxury homes, vehicles, and jewelry. The agency also described millions more in corporate card spending on travel, luxury goods, family tuition and tutoring, pet grooming, and a yacht purchase tied to customer deposits. The filing follows federal criminal charges brought in February 2026, after which Delgado pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The SEC has also filed its own civil case.

Crypto exchange Bybit has filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over the theft of $1.5 billion from the platform in February 2025, naming the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau, and Lazarus Group. The exchange said a judge granted a preliminary injunction that bars the transfer or dissipation of identified stolen assets while the case moves forward, and found Bybit likely to succeed on the merits. Bybit said it has recovered about $48.4 million and frozen roughly $30.5 million across more than 28 exchanges and custodians, together equal to around 5% of the amount taken. The lawsuit also names unidentified individuals and entities holding or moving the funds as John Doe defendants. The exchange said attackers drained roughly 500,000 ETH from a cold wallet after manipulating a signing interface that displayed the correct destination address to approvers while changing the wallet’s underlying logic. By April, Ben Zhou said 69% of the proceeds remained traceable, 28% had gone dark, and 4% had been frozen. By June, Greek authorities had traced part of the funds to a wallet at a domestic exchange and issued a seizure order. Bybit said the civil case is proceeding alongside criminal investigations and that it continues to share blockchain intelligence with agencies including the FBI.

Bybit has filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against North Korea, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, and the Lazarus Group over the roughly $1.5 billion cryptocurrency theft that took place in February 2025. A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction barring the transfer or disposal of identified stolen assets while the case is pending, and found that Bybit is likely to prevail on the merits, the exchange said. The lawsuit also names unknown individuals and entities that hold or transferred the relevant funds as John Doe defendants. Bybit disclosed that about $48.4 million of the stolen funds have been recovered, and roughly $30.5 million have been frozen across more than 28 exchanges and custodians. Combined, the two figures account for about 5% of the stolen amount. Attackers moved approximately 500,000 ETH out of Bybit's cold wallet in February 2025; most of the funds were subsequently swapped into bitcoin via Thorchain and routed through mixing services. Bybit said the civil case is being pursued in parallel with criminal investigations.

Bybit has filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau, and the Lazarus Group over the February 2025 theft of roughly $1.5 billion in crypto assets. The court granted a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction covering part of the stolen assets held by unidentified defendants listed as John Doe, finding that Bybit is likely to succeed on the merits of the case. The exchange said the civil action is separate from an ongoing criminal investigation by U.S. law enforcement. The filing follows one of the largest crypto thefts on record. According to the report, the attackers compromised Safe’s multisig wallet supply chain and altered the transaction interface while funds were being moved from a Bybit cold wallet to a warm wallet, allowing them to take control of the signing flow. Stolen assets included 401,347 ETH, 90,375 stETH, 15,000 cmETH, and 8,000 mETH. Bybit has so far recovered about $48.4 million and frozen another $30.5 million across more than 28 exchanges and custodians, but that still accounts for only about 5% of the total. Most of the funds are believed to have become untraceable after moving through cross-chain bridges, mixers, and OTC channels.

Bybit said it has filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against North Korea, the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), and the Lazarus Group over the large-scale cyberattack that targeted the exchange in February 2025. The company said it also obtained a preliminary injunction freezing identified stolen digital assets held or moved by unidentified individuals and entities named as John Doe defendants. In granting a temporary restraining order, the court described the case as “one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history” and said Bybit was likely to succeed on the merits. The exchange said the civil case is separate from a criminal investigation by U.S. law enforcement and is intended to create another legal path for asset recovery. Bybit added that it has recovered about $48.4 million so far and frozen about $30.5 million in related assets across more than 28 exchanges and custodians. It also linked those efforts to broader actions by German and Swiss authorities against eXch and Cryptomixer.io.

Bybit has filed a civil suit in U.S. federal court against North Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) intelligence agency and the sanctioned Lazarus Group over a $1.5 billion hack. A federal judge has barred any transfer or dissipation of identified assets tied to the case while the suit proceeds, according to ChainCatcher.

Prosecutors in São Paulo state have filed a public civil lawsuit against Tools for Humanity Corporation, the developer tied to World Network, and Amazon AWS Serviços Brasil, alleging the companies illegally collected iris biometric data from more than 400,000 people in exchange for financial compensation. The São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking at least R$240 million in collective moral damages, roughly $47 million, and is asking the court to permanently ban the practice of offering money for iris data. Prosecutor Patrícia Leitão also requested an injunction to preserve all records, metadata, contracts, and technical reports tied to the handling of the biometric information, while seeking clarity on which Amazon group entity actually hosted the data. The case builds on an earlier order from Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority, which on Jan. 24, 2025 told Tools for Humanity to stop offering cryptocurrency or other compensation for Brazilians’ iris scans, and on a 161-page São Paulo city council report that cited serious violations across data protection, consumer protection, and financial regulation.