On Friday, October 2, 2026, Renato Elia, Manuel Fernandez, and Unigames International, Inc. filed a second amended complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Cesar Castañeda, Erica Castañeda, Katherine Castañeda, Edgar Martínez, Liliana Martínez, Cesar Castañeda Jr., Victor Cardenas, and Jesus Parra, alleging a racketeering scheme involving the theft of Bitcoin valued at $29,669,646.57.
The 90-page filing alleges that Cesar Castañeda took 292.43 Bitcoin on December 13, 2024, from a cold wallet device held by the Atlanta law firm Taylor English Duma LLP under an escrow arrangement. The plaintiffs say Unigames held legal title to the Bitcoin.
According to the complaint, Castañeda is subject to a permanent injunction issued July 26, 2021, by the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas in CFTC v. Castañeda. The order bars him from transactions involving Bitcoin or other commodity interests. The plaintiffs allege he concealed the order and used Unigames as a legal titleholder to get around it.
The complaint says the arrangement began in early 2024, when Cardenas, a business associate of Castañeda, brought a proposal from 3B Group Holdings, LLC. The company needed to show $20 million in cryptocurrency holdings for a bond purchase. A total of 355.997 BTC was placed under the plaintiffs’ legal title, the filing states.
The plaintiffs allege Castañeda promised Elia and Fernandez $2 million in fees and that the money was never paid. They also allege that a $10 million payment designated for Unigames was routed in the escrow documents to La Leyenda Enterprises, LLC, a company owned by Castañeda and his wife, Erica.
The filing describes an August 16, 2024, meeting at the law firm’s Atlanta offices. There, the cold wallet was opened under attorney supervision and 63.57 BTC, worth about $5 million, was withdrawn to release a mechanic’s lien on the La Leyenda Event Center in Montgomery County, Texas. The device was then resealed and returned to the firm. The plaintiffs say the meeting established mandatory procedures for any later withdrawal, including an in-person meeting and attorney supervision.
The plaintiffs cite WhatsApp messages they say Castañeda sent in late October 2024 indicating a plan to remove his funds around December 13 and to convert them to the Tether stablecoin USDT “to lose the trail.” They allege Elia told him not to act. The complaint says Fernandez later found the Texas injunction through a background search.
The complaint alleges Castañeda left Elia a voicemail on December 13, 2024, saying he had withdrawn the Bitcoin. It says that at a December 19 meeting in Estero, Florida, he offered each plaintiff $3,000 in cash and twice dropped to his knees to ask them not to pursue legal action. The cold wallet was returned to the plaintiffs on January 9, 2025, and the plaintiffs say it no longer contained the Bitcoin.
The plaintiffs also cite January 2025 messages in which Castañeda allegedly wrote that they would talk “Michoacán-style.” They attached an expert opinion interpreting the phrase as a threat of violence.
The filing alleges the Bitcoin was converted to US dollars through Falcon Financial and other exchanges, with about $9 million sent to relatives in Texas and Florida for real estate purchases. It further alleges that on or about July 7, 2025, Martínez and Liliana Martínez transferred three La Leyenda Event Center properties, with an estimated combined value of $7 million, to Parra, a welder, for nominal or no consideration.
The complaint lists 25 counts, including violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Florida’s civil theft statute, fraud, conversion, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and civil conspiracy.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages of at least $29,669,646.57 and treble damages of at least $89,008,939.71. They also seek punitive damages, a constructive trust, an accounting, an asset freeze, forensic preservation of devices, expedited discovery, and attorneys’ fees and costs. They have demanded a jury trial.
Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.
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