Goliath Ventures’ Chris Delgado Built a $500 Million Fraud on Fake Promises

When Christopher “Lord Chris” Delgado stood before 12,000 attendees at the Vault Conference 2025, he had just blown one million dollars on a sponsorship package. The founder and CEO of Goliath Ventures Inc. couldn’t explain what his company actually did. “It’s a Private Joint Venture Fund,” he stammered, the vague corporate jargon masking a simpler truth: Delgado had engineered one of the most brazen crypto Ponzi schemes in recent American history, promising guaranteed monthly returns of four to eight percent while raising between $250 and $500 million from more than fifteen hundred investors.

Doctors, firefighters, realtors, and retirees poured savings into contracts promising impossible returns with zero risk. When pressure mounted in September 2025, the entire Florida-based operation vanished overnight, reincorporating in Wyoming without informing a single investor. The coordinated dissolution exposed what New Zealand investigative journalist Danny de Hek had been documenting for months: a massive unregistered securities fraud wrapped in crypto buzzwords and backed by fabricated audits.

Goliath never registered with the SEC, never filed Form D notices for securities offerings, and operated without FinCEN registration as a Money Services Business. The company targeted retirement accounts through WealthMD, helping investors roll over pensions and 401(k) funds directly into Goliath contracts. Matt Burks and Piers Curry simultaneously ran BlackBlock, marketing it as an independent audit firm while manufacturing legitimacy for the very investments they were promoting.

The Bookkeeper Who Signed the Mansion Papers

Nadia Bringas, a Fort Lauderdale bookkeeper, controlled Goliath’s financial operations. Internal training transcripts from February 2025 reveal Bringas controlled investor payouts, verified incoming funds, and managed distribution spreadsheets. Delgado trusted her enough to grant Power of Attorney to sign paperwork for his $3.2 million mansion purchase in Winter Park, witnessed by Goliath insiders Hunter Smallback and Alex Bukalo. While redemption requests went unfulfilled, Delgado upgraded his lifestyle through real estate deals executed by his bookkeeper.

On September 2, 2025, Bringas Bookkeeping dissolved its Florida corporation and reincorporated in Wyoming. The following day, Goliath Ventures followed the identical pattern. Both dissolutions were handled by Harry Samuels CPA, the same tax accountant. Investors received no notice, no disclosure, no explanation. Neither Bringas nor Goliath registered as foreign entities in Florida, raising serious compliance concerns and suggesting the moves were designed to bury paper trails.

Training materials show Bringas’s name appearing alongside Delgado’s when discussing financial responsibility. “You will still be responsible for giving the spreadsheet to Nadia and Chris each month. You have to tell them who gets what.” Another passage confirmed her verification role: “Nadia will log into Salesforce, verify that she sees an in good order check. She’s got money, she sends it on.” She functioned as the financial gatekeeper for an operation that raised hundreds of millions without proper licenses or registrations.

The Executive With a DOJ Settlement

Goliath’s Chief Operations Officer, Nicholas Petrillo, brought troubling history to the venture. Before joining Delgado’s operation, Petrillo served as national account director and top sales representative at Trinity Medical Pharmacy in New Port Richey, Florida. In August 2018, Trinity settled False Claims Act allegations with the Department of Justice for more than $2.2 million. The government alleged that Petrillo and other executives knowingly sought reimbursement for compounded medicine claims generated through illegal kickbacks to patients and providers, targeting TRICARE. The settlement specifically named Petrillo in connection with the kickback scheme.

The Unregistered Securities Problem

Under the Howey Test established in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., Goliath’s contracts qualify as securities: investors contributed cash or crypto into pooled liquidity funds, were promised fixed monthly returns of three to ten percent with guaranteed principal, and expected profits from the company’s trading activities rather than their own work.

For years, Goliath marketing materials explicitly described the venture as a private equity fund. An August 2024 newsletter featured Delgado writing about “the dynamic landscape of private equity” and announcing “our new, state-of-the-art dashboard, meticulously designed to enhance your experience and provide you with comprehensive insights into your contributions to our private equity fund.” When investigators began circling in September 2025, Goliath suddenly rebranded as a joint venture with disclaimers claiming they weren’t selling securities.

Despite raising an estimated quarter to half billion dollars, Goliath never registered with the SEC, never provided audited financials, and sold to non-accredited investors including retirees. The company simultaneously operated as an unlicensed money transmitter, handling pooled crypto funds without FinCEN registration or state licenses. This created a double violation: securities fraud compounded by unlicensed money transmission under 18 U.S.C. § 1960, a felony carrying up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines per violation.

The Retirement Account Raid

The WealthMD connection added a predatory dimension. Burks and Curry designed a strategy to tap into what they called “a trillion-dollar market” by helping investors establish self-directed IRA LLCs. Protected retirement money held in regulated custodian accounts was rolled over into these entities, then directed into unregistered Goliath contracts. The scheme stripped ERISA protections from pensions and 401(k) funds, funneling them into what investigators believe operated as a classic Ponzi structure.

BlackBlock’s role completed the circular fraud. Burks and Curry marketed their audit service as independent verification while directing retirement funds into the scheme. The same individuals providing supposedly objective analysis confirming its safety were the ones promoting it.

The Lawsuit That Backfired

In September 2025, Goliath Ventures Inc. filed a defamation lawsuit against Danny de Hek in Florida court, claiming the journalist caused “millions of dollars in damages” through investigative reporting. The complaint accused de Hek of operating a smear campaign but failed to address his allegations: impossible guaranteed returns, unlicensed money transmission, unregistered securities sold to unaccredited investors. De Hek’s work relied entirely on open source intelligence using public records, corporate filings, and blockchain transactions.

The lawsuit appears designed to intimidate rather than rebut factual claims. By suing a journalist seven thousand miles from his New Zealand home, Delgado created a David versus Goliath narrative that drew additional scrutiny. The timing coincided with the Florida-to-Wyoming dissolution, suggesting panic among insiders who recognized their exposure.

Conclusion

When regulators move, the charges will cascade. The SEC will pursue unregistered securities violations, asset freezes, and officer bans. The DOJ will bring felony counts for securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. FinCEN and state authorities will prosecute unlicensed money transmission. The Department of Labor and IRS will pursue ERISA violations and tax penalties. The coordinated corporate dissolutions, jurisdiction-hopping, and rebranding efforts won’t shield Delgado, Bringas, Burks, Curry, or Petrillo from liability. Long federal prison sentences and catastrophic financial judgments await.

November 17, 2025

Dahr Jamail

Dahr Jamail is an independent journalist dedicated to investigative reporting and critical inquiry. The site qnow functions as an autonomous newsroom, continuing in the broader spirit of unflinching, evidence-based reporting.

5 responses to “Goliath Ventures’ Chris Delgado Built a $500 Million Fraud on Fake Promises”

Danny de Hek

November 18, 2025

This is outstanding investigative work. Your reporting has captured exactly what many of us on the ground have been documenting for months. The scale of deception inside Goliath Ventures Inc has been staggering, and the Florida-to-Wyoming corporate shuffle matched the same pattern we’ve been tracking through public records and investor testimonies.

One important update for readers: Goliath is now claiming that all investor funds are currently “frozen” because they are conducting an internal audit. This is the latest in a long line of delays, excuses, and contradictory statements designed to buy time. Investors have been told that payouts will resume after this so-called audit, yet not a single verified financial document has ever been produced, and the company still has no SEC registration or licensed money-transmission authority. It’s a textbook stalling tactic seen in countless collapsing Ponzi schemes.

Your article precisely outlines how the guaranteed monthly returns, the unregistered securities sales, and the predatory targeting of retirement accounts intersect with a much larger pattern of misconduct. Anyone still trying to dismiss these red flags should read this piece carefully. The facts speak for themselves.

Thank you for putting a national spotlight on what many believe is one of the most brazen frauds currently operating in the United States.

Reply
Joseph Frazier

November 19, 2025

Mr. Jamail,
I’m reaching out because I’ve reviewed the article you published about Goliath Ventures, and I want to give you a straightforward heads-up. I’m not speaking in any formal legal capacity. Think of this as the kind of conversation you’d get from an attorney off the clock who doesn’t want to see you wander into a problem you didn’t intend to create.

Your article lays out a series of very serious criminal accusations: Ponzi scheme, securities fraud, unlicensed money transmission, ERISA violations, fabricated audits, and even predictions of federal prison time. These aren’t phrased as concerns, questions, or allegations; they’re written as definitive statements of fact involving named individuals.

This is exactly the type of content that triggers defamation per se if any part of it turns out to be incorrect or unprovable. Under “defamation per se”, the law doesn’t require the plaintiff to show actual harm, the damage is presumed the moment the accusation is published. That’s not theory; that’s straight out of the Restatement of Torts and multiple federal and state rulings.

And just so it’s clear:
Danny Dehek has some legal jurisdictional barriers that offer him some level of cushion but he is not out of reach or trouble as he has been served by a New Zealand court.

For US Citizens residing in the United States, The First Amendment does not protect false statements of fact, even when a journalist publishes them. Courts have said this repeatedly:

Gertz v. Robert Welch: false factual statements have no First Amendment protection.

Milkovich v. Lorain Journal: you can’t disguise factual accusations as “opinion.”

New York Times v. Sullivan: reckless disregard for accuracy equals actual malice.

When your piece makes declarative statements of criminal behavior without linking evidence, quoting official records, or showing documentation, that is most certainly the sort of thing a court will classify as “reckless disregard” if tested.

The main thought is that once litigation starts, it’s expensive even if you’re right. Discovery, depositions, motions are a draining process. And if anything in the article can’t be proven with hard evidence, the legal exposure lands squarely on you.

I’m not debating the merits of your investigation. I’m pointing out that, from a legal standpoint, the way the article is written puts you in a vulnerable place. If I were advising someone privately, which I’m essentially doing here, informally, I’d tell them to either pull the article down for review or revise it so that every claim is tied to a documented, verifiable source.

You’re free to write whatever you choose, but you should at least be aware of the path you’re on. A few corrections now are a lot easier than dealing with a complaint after it’s filed.

I’d strongly encourage you to take another look at the piece with this in mind and also you have now been made aware.
Take care.

Reply
1. Danny de Hek
  
  November 23, 2025
  
  Joseph, what a load of absolute rubbish. If you want to lecture journalists about evidence, start by providing some yourself instead of hiding behind a fake identity and trying to intimidate people with vague legal threats.
  
  You claim to be giving “friendly off-the-clock attorney advice,” yet you don’t list a bar number, a law firm, or even your real name. That alone tells readers everything they need to know about your credibility and your intentions.
  
  Now let’s deal with your assertions:
  1. “Unsubstantiated claims”?
  Every claim made by myself or by Dahr Jamail has verifiable receipts. Corporate dissolutions, Wyoming reinstatements, unregistered securities offerings, WealthMD rollover structures, BlackBlock’s dual role, and the September 2025 payouts freeze are all publicly documented. If you had half a brain, you could download the filings and read them yourself.
  2. “Auditor stopping payments”?
  If you’re a lawyer, produce evidence that any legitimate auditor has legal authority to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in investor funds. No auditor in the United States has that power. What GOLIATH VENTURES INC is telling investors — that an internal review allows them to hold everyone’s principal hostage — is nonsense, and you know it.
  3. Your incorrect claim about New Zealand courts.
  No New Zealand court has issued me anything. If you’re going to invoke the law, at least learn to read a docket. The only case you’re referring to was filed in Florida, and anyone with basic literacy can see we have filed a motion to dismiss based on jurisdictional defects. Zero service. Zero standing. Zero connection to New Zealand courts. Stop lying to inflate your argument.
  4. Your entire message is intimidation disguised as “advice.”
  This is the classic tactic used by collapsing fraud operations:
  • Anonymous threats
  • Misstating jurisdiction
  • Pretending the law works the opposite of how it actually works
  • Warning journalists to “revise or remove” evidence-backed reporting
  • Invoking defamation while ignoring the underlying facts
  If you believed your own words, you’d put your real name and credentials on the line.
  5. Your legal references don’t help you.
  Every case you cited applies against people who publish false statements — not journalists who report verifiable evidence. Reporting on publicly filed documents, corporate records, wire instructions, contractual guarantees, and investor communications is protected speech.
  The only way this becomes “actual malice” is if the reporting knowingly ignored evidence. And we have mountains of it.
  
  Before you lecture independent journalists about risk, maybe direct your energy at the people who promised guaranteed returns, sold unregistered securities, dissolved their companies overnight, and are now telling investors their money is “frozen” in an “audit” that no one can verify.
  
  Until you — or GOLIATH VENTURES INC — can provide a single piece of verifiable evidence that contradicts the reporting, your threatening letters mean nothing.
  
  If you have something factual to contribute, provide real documents. If you don’t, stop trying to intimidate those exposing the truth.
  
  Reply
Tomo

November 20, 2025

I love the “if any part of it turns out to be incorrect or unprovable” – Yeah, so none of it is incorrect or unprovable (as Danny has showed the proof) and definitely worth the risk right now to protect the rest of the public from getting scammed by the midget.

It’s quite clear what Chris Delgado is and isn’t. A complete and total failure at everything in his life, except for scamming and ripping people off. Dude rocks at that. All his “friends and acquaintances” will be turning their back on him when he gets sent up the river, because no one likes him at all. They are only around him for his money (that he stole). Why do you think he spends so much? He has to spend to keep people around. Like any of his women would be with him for ANY reason other than he is their personal ATM. Total Napoleon Complex.

He is the worst of the worst and deserves all the prison time he will be getting. He has destroyed lives and hides it behind “donations” so he can sleep at night. Well, soon he will be sleeping next to a 6’8″ black guy named “Moby”. Better keep that ass against the wall, Chris.

This is all just my opinion by the way 😛

Reply
[Redacted Name]

December 3, 2025

Dear gentleman what u posted can be considered trying silent a lerson..i highly recommend u fo watch defimation cases and slander …for thwg be consider it has blantely false…like if said you had disease …giving an opinion based of current evidence you have is protected..by way they dissolved company so all contracts signs have be resigned if comlanh was legit…last phone number of company neverv answers

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