Fijian authorities deported Edward Zimbardi to the United States on August 14 to face federal wire fraud and money laundering charges tied to The Crypto Program, an alleged cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say drew more than $165 million from thousands of investors before it collapsed in 2023.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced the case on August 17, the same day the 59-year-old Flowery Branch, Georgia resident appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Los Angeles. A federal grand jury had already indicted Zimbardi on July 8 on twelve counts of wire fraud, twelve counts of money laundering, and one count of money laundering conspiracy.
Inside The Crypto Program’s 25% Pitch
Prosecutors allege Zimbardi created and promoted The Crypto Program between June 2022 and August 2023, marketing it through promotional videos and websites as an opportunity to buy advertising packages that carried a guaranteed 25% monthly return. Investors moved cryptocurrency into wallets Zimbardi secretly controlled, and thousands of them sent more than $165 million to those addresses.
Rather than buying advertising packages, Zimbardi allegedly gambled more than $34 million on risky foreign currency bets and lost substantial money, then paid earlier investors with funds from later ones to keep the operation running. He allegedly spent at least $10 million on personal expenses, including buying a house for his son, purchasing luxury vehicles, and making alimony payments to his ex-wife. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg described this, saying:
“Zimbardi allegedly tricked thousands of people to invest in his ‘Crypto Program’ with false promises of enormous returns. Instead, he spent the money on risky currency trades, payments to early investors, and treating himself to a house and expensive vehicles.”
Zimbardi’s Two Years on the Run
When The Crypto Program imploded in August 2023 and victims lost their funds, Zimbardi traveled to Hawaii, Fiji, and other locations around the world. He fled to Fiji in July 2025 after becoming aware of the FBI investigation and lived there for more than a year. In May 2026, he canceled plans to attend his son’s wedding in Virginia, suspecting correctly that FBI agents would attempt to arrest him there.
Fijian authorities deported Zimbardi on August 14 after learning of the U.S. charges, coordinating the operation with the FBI and the U.S. Department of State. The government will argue he should stay in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending further proceedings in the Northern District of Georgia.
The FBI is asking people who invested in the scheme to provide their details and said it will contact victims about further proceedings, including documentation needed for potential restitution. The indictment contains only charges, and Zimbardi remains presumed innocent unless the government proves his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The prosecution lands amid a steady stream of crypto Ponzi cases moving through U.S. courts, from the Justice Department’s July move to drop charges against BitClub Network’s alleged $722 million mastermind Matthew Goettsche, to the 51-month sentence handed to Matthew Melton over the fake Price Physics trading algorithm.