JPMorgan Chase has been sued by investors in Goliath Ventures, with a proposed class action alleging the bank ignored “red flags” raised by the allegedly fraudulent crypto pool and helped facilitate what the complaint describes as a $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme that affected over 2,000 people.
Filed in federal court in the Northern District of California on Wednesday, the complaint alleges that Chase “provided the essential banking infrastructure through which the Ponzi scheme operated,” processed investor deposits, facilitated transfers and facilitated payments that allegedly “created the false appearance of legitimate profits.”
Florida resident Christopher Alexander Delgado was arrested by federal authorities last month on fraud and money laundering charges related to his operation of Goliath. That criminal case is in its early stages.
“Numerous red flags made the fraudulent nature of the scheme obvious and known to Chase,” Wednesday’s proposed class action claims. “Despite these red flags, Chase turned a blind eye and continued to service the accounts used to commit the fraud, earning significant fees from the hundreds of millions of dollars it laundered through Goliath and Delgado’s banking operations at Chase.”
A spokesperson for JPMorgan told CoinDesk that the bank would “decline to comment.”
The complaint, filed by Robby Alan Steele through his attorneys at Shaw Lewenz and co-counsel, states that JPMorgan was the sole banking institution for Goliath. It further states that approximately $253 million was deposited into a Chase account linked to Goliath between January 2023 and June 2025. About $123 million was transferred from that account to the crypto exchange Coinbase, while about $50 million was sent to investors as alleged returns.
The lawsuit, which does not specify a specific damages figure, repeatedly argued that the bank should have seen the alleged fraud from the cash flow alone.
“From a bank’s perspective, the fraudulent scheme was obvious,” the complaint said. “A fraudulent scheme of this magnitude cannot be run surreptitiously through one bank.”
The suit also cites JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s public criticism of cryptocurrencies, adding that it contradicts the bank’s alleged conduct.
“Despite Dimon’s long history of criticizing cryptocurrency,” the complaint said, Chase knowingly allowed a bank customer — Goliath — to commingle investors’ money at Chase” and use funds from later investors to pay earlier ones “in classic Ponzi scheme fashion.”
