Alston & Bird Accused of ‘Essential’ Role in Crypto Ponzi Scheme

Alston & Bird is being sued by investors in Florida who say they were duped into contributing to an alleged $328 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme over business relationship contracts drafted by the international law firm.

The purposed class action complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, claims that “Alston & Bird architected the legal framework through which investor funds and retirement funds were solicited, pooled, transferred, and deployed” into Goliath Ventures.

Lawsuits have been pouring into Florida state and federal courts from investors claiming to have been fooled by Goliath’s CEO Christopher Alexander Delgado, who’s been charged with wire fraud and money laundering. This week a state court appointed a receiver to protect the investors’ funds.

According to federal prosecutors, Delgado started a legitimate cryptocurrency liquidity business, which uses investor funds to allow for transfer of different crypto assets in a private pool and earns profits from transaction fees. However, most of the funds were never invested in the pool, and millions were allegedly spent on Delgado’s private purchases and real estate.

Thursday’s complaint alleges that Alston & Bird prepared an opinion letter assuring investors that the liquidity pool wouldn’t constitute a security, which would allow Delgado to raise capital from investors and channel that cash through joint venture agreements without triggering regulatory scrutiny and obligations under securities laws.

But this was incorrect advice, and none of the lawyers working on this matter are licensed in Florida, the complaint said.

This triggered “a duty owed by Alston & Bird to the partners or joint venturers in the joint venture it created and represented, and then facilitate securities fraud and other misconduct on behalf of one partner against the rest,” the complaint said.

The firm didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Adam A. Schwartzbaum, one of the attorneys representing clients in the purported class, said the complaint was “just the beginning.”

“The evidence shows that this scheme did not operate in a vacuum,” he said.

Sonn Law Group, Shaw Lewenz and Murphy’s Law: The Crypto Law Firm also represent plaintiffs in this matter.

The case is Euliano v. Alston & Bird, LLP, S.D. Fla., No. :26-cv-60646, complaint filed 3/5/26.