An Ohio man has been sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for running a $10 million Ponzi scheme built around fake promises of Bitcoin derivatives trading profits. Rathnakishore Giri, who is 31 and from New Albany, Ohio, was also given 3 years of supervised release after his sentence wraps up.
Prosecutors said Giri pitched himself as an expert in trading Bitcoin-linked derivatives, convincing investors their money was secure and guaranteed to grow. Instead, the Justice Department said he used money from new investors to repay earlier ones and misled clients who asked for their money back—a textbook Ponzi setup.
Most of the victims were local, clustered around Columbus, and many had believed both the high returns and the safety Giri claimed. Prosecutors also said Giri had a long record of investment failures, which he concealed through false reassurances. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in October 2024.
The Ohio sentencing of a Bitcoin Ponzi operator shows the cleanup cycle is still landing in court years later.