{"id":167685,"date":"2026-02-24T23:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167685\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T23:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T23:38:09","slug":"former-ceo-of-orlando-company-arrested-in-connection-with-alleged-328m-ponzi-scheme-wftv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/167685\/","title":{"rendered":"Former CEO of Orlando company arrested in connection with alleged $328M Ponzi scheme \u2013 WFTV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 An Apopka man was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an alleged $328 million Ponzi scheme. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Christopher Alexander Delgado, 34, faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison if convicted on all counts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Delgado served as president and CEO of Goliath Ventures, formerly Gen-Z Venture Firm. From January 2023 to January 2026, he reportedly persuaded victims to invest large amounts of money by falsely claiming they would earn monthly returns from cryptocurrency \u201cliquidity pools.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">The criminal complaint states that Delgado operated Goliath Ventures as a Ponzi scheme, an investment fraud where returns for existing investors are paid using funds contributed by new investors. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Although the firm claimed it would invest in cryptocurrency liquidity pools, most of the funds were actually used to pay purported returns to earlier investors or to return principal to those who requested it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Delgado allegedly built trust with investors through professional marketing, personal referrals, charitable sponsorships, and hosting luxury events and holiday parties to establish credibility. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Federal investigators state that Goliath Ventures collected at least $328 million from victims via these fraudulent claims. The investigation also revealed that some victim funds were redirected for Delgado\u2019s personal use and for lavish company expenses. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">This included luxury travel accommodations and business gatherings. Delgado also reportedly used the money to purchase four residential properties, valued between $1.15 million and $8.5 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\">Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\">click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wftvapps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771976289_183_APP DOWNLOAD LOCAL_1541693885678.jpg_13622062_ver1.0.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 An Apopka man was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with wire fraud&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[147,145,28,139,141,140,144,146],"class_list":["post-167685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-central-florida","tag-channel-9","tag-florida","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-wftv","tag-wftv-channel-9"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}