Ohio Investment Manager Sentenced to 9 Years for $10M Crypto Ponzi Scheme

On Monday, Rathnakishore Giri, 31, from New Albany, Ohio, received a nine-year federal prison sentence for orchestrating a $10 million Ponzi scheme involving cryptocurrency. After pleading guilty to wire fraud in October 2024, Giri continued to seek funds from new investors, prompting a revised plea agreement. He presented himself as an expert in Bitcoin derivatives, assuring investors of guaranteed principal and risk-free returns, while utilizing funds from newcomers to pay earlier investors. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission initiated an enforcement action against Giri and his firms, SR Private Equity, LLC and NBD Eidetic Capital, LLC, along with his parents, in August 2022. The DOJ indicted him on five wire fraud counts in November 2022. In 2025, the FBI's IC3 reported that Americans lost $11.36 billion to crypto fraud, marking a 22% rise with over 181,500 complaints. Giri's sentence includes 108 months in prison and three years of supervised release.