A Man from Calgary who directed a Ponzi scheme of $ 150 million was convicted of securities fraud and was ordered to pay $ 8.8 million in fines and costs by the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC).
Craig Michael Thompson, 47, and his two companies, Black Box Management Corp. and Invader Management Ltd., defrauded 1,000 Canadian and American investors between 2020 and 2023, when the scam collapsed.
Thompson does not have postsecundaria education or experience in finance, investments or commerce, the ASC pointed out in its 31 -page decision, qualifying the fraud “among Alberta’s largest Ponzi schemes.”
An inverter, identified in the decision of sanction of the ASC as TF, lost more than $ 25 million, all his life savings and his inheritance.
Permanently prohibited trade
The commission also found that Thompson erroneously appropriated $ 767,494 of investor funds for personal use.
Thompson and his companies admitted in two crimes of Alberta’s Securities Law, acting as a distributor without being registered and perpetrating fraud to investors.
On Wednesday, the ASC ordered Thompson to pay $ 8.1 million in Devorgement, an administrative fine of $ 750,000 and $ 14,000 in costs.
The confessed scammer is also permanently prohibited to operate.
Thompson’s lawyer declined to comment.
In an interview with CBC News, ASC application director Cynthia Campbell said the case has been sent to the Integrated RCMP market execution team for research.
‘Thompson made the numbers’
Thompson admitted fraud in a declaration of agreed facts and admissions presented last autumn before a sanctions hearing took place in November.
The scam involved Thompson lying on being a successful merchant and convincing investors to use money for daily trade in the stock market.
In reality, the vast majority of the funds were embezzled and used to pay other investors their alleged yields, according to the ASC.
Over time, Thompson lost more than $ 20 million.
Red flags
According to ASC’s decision, investors had no idea what their money was being used for because Thompson sent them by email weekly statements that showed growing balances.
“Actually, Thompson achieved the numbers,” the ASC wrote. “Investors received statements that show significant yields, when, in fact, their balance was effectively zero.”
Campbell says that constant positive returns should be seen as a red flag.
“Anyone who is involved in daily trade will have some victories and some losses,” said Campbell.
“The only people who can have high success rates in daytime trade are scammers.”
‘Classic Ponzi scheme’
Campbell warned about the red flags that could, in the future, protect other potential investors.
The public members are encouraged to consult the ASC website to confirm whether a person or company is registered to be a financial advisor.
Thompson and his companies were not registered in any way.
The case, said Campbell, is “a classic Ponzi scheme, disguised as a modern commercial history.”
“This individual exploited investors’ confidence by falsely portraying as a successful day merchant, a tactic that we are seeing more frequently, especially because the tools of AI make these manufacture seem more credible,”
Campbell urged anyone to approach or get involved with an investment opportunity that promises high yields with a minimum risk to contact ASC.
