SEC Charges Canadian Citizen With Fraud Schemes That Targeted Retail Investors on Discord

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Canadian citizen Nathan Gauvin and three entities he controls—Blackridge, LLC, Gray Digital Capital Management USA, LLC, and Gray Digital Technologies, LLC—with orchestrating two fraudulent securities offerings that raised more than $18 million from investors across the United States and abroad. Gauvin allegedly misappropriated approximately $6.3 million of investor funds and used fabricated credentials, false performance metrics, and fictitious account statements to lure investors into his schemes. According to the SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Gauvin gained a following on Discord by falsely presenting himself as a successful investment professional managing over a billion dollars in assets through Blackridge, which in reality was a mere shell entity.