SAN FRANCISCO— A proposed class action filed in California federal court is accusing JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. of helping enable what investors say was a $328-million cryptocurrency fraud tied to Florida-based Goliath Ventures Inc., adding a major bank-liability twist to one of the more prominent crypto enforcement cases now moving through federal court.
According to Law360, the suit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and alleges JPMorgan ignored red flags and provided critical banking services that allowed Goliath Ventures to operate what plaintiffs describe as a massive crypto investment scheme. Bloomberg Law similarly reported the complaint claims Chase failed to act despite allegedly suspicious account activity tied to the firm.
The case, Steele v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Case No. 3:26-cv-02067), seeks class-action status on behalf of investors and argues the bank enabled or aided the alleged fraud by processing large volumes of transactions through Goliath accounts. The publicly available complaint says the action arises from Chase’s alleged role in “enabling, aiding, and abetting” the scheme, which federal authorities say pulled in at least $328 million from what are believed to be more than 2,000 investors.
The complaint alleges that JPMorgan was Goliath’s sole banking institution from January 2023 to roughly May or June 2025, and that the company moved at least $253 million through Chase accounts during that period. It further alleges that roughly $123 million was transferred from a Chase account to wallets held at Coinbase, a detail that plaintiffs say should have heightened compliance scrutiny. Those figures were highlighted in the complaint and echoed in follow-on reporting from Cointelegraph and other crypto outlets.
The civil action follows the Feb. 24 arrest of Goliath Ventures CEO Christopher Alexander Delgado, who was charged by federal prosecutors in Florida with wire fraud and money laundering. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said Delgado operated Goliath as a Ponzi-style scheme in which investors were promised returns tied to cryptocurrency liquidity pools, but prosecutors allege the business obtained at least $328 million while only a tiny fraction was actually deployed as represented. The IRS Criminal Investigation unit separately confirmed the arrest and charges, the Department of Justice reported.
According to Law360, the case could become an important test of how far plaintiffs can push “gatekeeper liability” theories against major banks in crypto-related fraud matters. Rather than suing only the promoter, investors are trying to recover from the financial institution that allegedly handled the flow of funds, arguing anti-money-laundering controls and account monitoring should have detected unusual patterns earlier. That broader theory is now getting fresh attention as banks, credit unions and fintechs face rising scrutiny over crypto-related account activity and third-party risk.