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JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), the largest bank in the world, is facing a lawsuit for allegedly allowing a Ponzi scheme involving cryptocurrency.
Robby Alan Steele, a plaintiff, filed the class-action lawsuit on behalf of all those affected in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on March 10.
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The suit alleged that JPMorgan Chase turned a blind eye to suspicious transactions at Goliath Ventures that allowed the now-defunct Florida-based firm to use the Wall Street banking giant’s infrastructure to collect investor funds.
JPMorgan, in fact, aided and abetted a $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme that defrauded over 2,000 investors, the suit further claimed.
The complaint underlined that the bank’s behavior was in sharp contrast to CEO Jamie Dimon’s repeated criticism of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC).
The crypto Ponzi scheme operated from January 2023 through January 2026 until the U.S. authorities announced the arrest of Goliath Ventures CEO Christopher Delgado on Feb. 24.
The suit also alleged that JPMorgan was the sole banking institution for Goliath from January 2023 to May or June 2025. It also claimed that the bank’s partnership with Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, allowed Goliath’s Ponzi scheme to grow to this magnitude.
“Chase was not going to do anything to jeopardize this unusual, undoubtedly dangerous, but profitable partnership,” it added.
As per the suit, approximately $253 million was deposited into the JPMC 0305 account during January 2023-June 2025—roughly two-thirds of the $328 million collected from investors noted by the U.S. in charging Delgado.
Approximately $123 million from this account was transferred to Goliath’s wallets maintained by Coinbase, the lawsuit further alleged.
A Coinbase spokesperson said in a statement to TheStreet Roundtable,
“Coinbase is not a party to this private lawsuit. With respect to the criminal matter referenced in the lawsuit, which also does not target Coinbase, we fully met our compliance obligations and remain steadfast in our partnership with banks and law enforcement to ensure bad actors are held accountable and the ecosystem remains secure.”
The lawsuit against JPMorgan comes only days after Western Alliance sued Jefferies Financial Group over a soured $126.4 million loan tied to bankrupt auto supplier First Brands Group.
When the U.S. authorities arrested Delgado earlier this year, they said he could face a maximum prison sentence of 30 years if he gets convicted.
Though Goliath promised to invest user funds in crypto liquidity pools, these funds were primarily used to pay purported returns to earlier investors, return principal to investors who requested it, the firm’s extravagant business gatherings and luxury travel accommodations, the authorities said.
They also accused Delgado of purchasing four residential properties each worth between $1.15 million and $8.5 million.
JPMorgan Chase declined to comment when TheStreet Roundtablereached out.
Related: World’s largest bank reportedly chases crypto trading amid debanking claims
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Mar 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Business News section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.