JPMorgan Chase & Co. is being sued by Goliath Ventures investors in a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the bank ignored “red flags” raised by a fraudulent crypto pool that helped facilitate a $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme that affected more than 2,000 people named in the complaint.
The complaint, filed Wednesday in federal court in the Northern District of California, alleges that Chase “provided the essential banking infrastructure for the operation of the Ponzi scheme,” processing investor deposits, facilitating transfers, and enabling payments that allegedly “created a misrepresentation of legitimate interest.”
Christopher Alexander Delgado, a Florida resident, was arrested by federal authorities last month on wire fraud and money laundering charges related to Operation Goliath. The criminal case is in its early stages.
“Numerous red flags revealed the fraudulent nature of this scheme and became known to Chase,” the class action lawsuit proposed Wednesday alleges. “Despite these red flags, Chase turned a blind eye and continued to maintain the accounts used to commit the fraud, reaping significant fees from the hundreds of millions of dollars funneled through Goliath and Delgado’s banking operations at Chase.”
A JPMorgan spokesperson told CoinDesk that the bank “refers to comment.”
The complaint, filed by Robbie Alan Steele through attorney and co-counsel Shaw Luentz, lists JPMorgan as Goliath’s only banking institution. It further states that approximately $253 million was deposited into Chase accounts linked to Goliath between January 2023 and June 2025. Approximately $123 million was transferred from that account to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and approximately $50 million was transferred to investors as returns.
The lawsuit does not specify specific damages, but repeatedly argues that the bank should have discovered the fraud based solely on the flow of funds.
“From the bank’s perspective, the fraudulent scheme was clear,” the complaint states. “A fraud scheme of this scale could not be secretly carried out through a single bank.”
The lawsuit also cited JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s public criticism of cryptocurrencies, adding that this contradicts the bank’s alleged conduct.
“Despite Mr. Dimon’s long history of criticizing cryptocurrencies, Chase knowingly allowed Goliath, a bank customer, to commingle investor funds with Chase,” and used funds from later investors to pay earlier investors “in classic Ponzi scheme fashion,” the complaint states.
