A Georgia man accused of wire fraud and money laundering appeared in a Los Angeles federal court on Monday after being deported by Fijian authorities to face the charges following his flight to the South Pacific island.
Prosecutors alleged the 59-year-old Edward Zimbardi, of Flowery Branch, Georgia, ran a Ponzi scheme that made more than $165 million from thousands of investors between June 2022 and August 2023.
An attorney for Zimbardi could not be reached.
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, who described ponzi schemers as “parasites” the day of the Department of Justice announcement, detailed the allegations.
“Zimbardi allegedly tricked thousands of people to invest in his ‘Crypto Program’ with false promises of enormous returns,” Hertzberg said. “Instead, he spent the money on risky currency trades, payments to early investors, and treating himself to a house and expensive vehicles.”…