ATLANTA — A Georgia investor at the center of a Channel 2 Action News investigation has been arrested and charged with money laundering overseas.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray has confirmed through law enforcement sources that Flowery Branch resident Ed Zimbardi was arrested in the Netherlands.
Multiple US law enforcement agencies and states are now in touch with each other and Dutch officials about an investigation into Zimbardi here.
“Our office actually initiated the entire investigation once we saw that there’s something here and we reached out to parties throughout the entire country,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Gray.
Raffensperger’s office said another law enforcement agency actually reached out to inform them about Zimbardi’s arrest because of our Channel 2 Action News reporting.
“They reached out to us because they did an internet search and found your story,” Noula Zaharis from the Secretary of State’s Securities division told Gray.
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In a Channel 2 Action News investigation in February, we reported on Ed Zimbardi and the big returns he promised investors.
“I kept saying to people, you know, there’s never a losing day,” investor Derek Corrado said.
That is until investors like Corrado were told all the money was gone.
“It was a facade. Every bit of it was fake smoke and mirrors at best,” investor Nathan Whaley said.
Investigators are looking into whether it was an illegal scheme designed to profit Zimbardi by taking advantage of consumers not just here in Georgia, but around the country and the world.
“We’re looking at it from it has the appearance of probably being a Ponzi scheme,” Zaharis said.
While Dutch authorities have formally charged Zimbardi, US authorities have not yet.
Georgia officials confirm they are part of a multi-state and multi-agency investigation into Zimbardi.
“Bad actors, especially those that want to steal your money, are very good at what they do,” Zaharis said.
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