Ohio Man Gets 9 Years for $10M Crypto Ponzi — Then Kept Soliciting Investors After Pleading Guilty!

Rathnakishore Giri, an Ohio investment manager, was sentenced Monday to nine years in federal prison for running a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of at least $10 million. Giri pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2024, but in a striking twist, his amended plea agreement revealed he continued soliciting new investor funds even after entering that guilty plea.

The DOJ described a textbook fraud: Giri promised guaranteed returns with zero risk to principal, then used incoming funds from new investors to repay earlier ones. He also had a documented history of investment failures and actively misled investors seeking to withdraw their money. The CFTC had first flagged his Bitcoin derivatives operation — run through entities SR Private Equity and NBD Eidetic Capital — in an August 2022 enforcement action, with a DOJ indictment following in November 2022.

The case lands…