A Calgary man is accused of bilking over 1,000 investors out of more than $164 million in a large-scale Ponzi scheme.
RCMP say Craig Michael Thompson, aged 49, was arrested and charged with two counts of fraud and a single count of laundering proceeds of crime on July 31.
Police allege that after receiving funds to his company, Black Box Management Corp, Thompson transferred more than $163 million to external accounts, including his own personal trading account and an investment in a company based in the United States.
Police say the case stems from between March 2020 and April 2024.
RCMP say the suspect was linked to several other invoice factoring and investment-related businesses: Intelsense Investment Corp., Invader Management Ltd., and Attebyte Investment Corp.
“While representing himself as a one-man investment firm, the accused received funds from Black Box investors on the understanding that he would use the money for day trading,” an RCMP news release says, adding “investors would then receive weekly email updates from the accused about the performance and growth of their respective accounts.”
However police say the information presented in the email updates were allegedly plagiarized from various online sources.
Thompson is scheduled to appear in Calgary court Thursday.
RCMP say their investigation received support from several agencies including the Alberta Securities Commission, the Forensic Accounting Management Group, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, the Southern Alberta Regional Victim Serving Society, and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.