Calgary Man Accused of Running $164M Ponzi Scam Targeting More Than 1,000 Victims

The Calgary Courts Centre is seen in Calgary, on May 6, 2024. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

A Calgary man is facing charges in connection with an alleged $164 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 1,000 people over a four-year span.

The Alberta RCMP has accused the suspect of diverting funds through his company, Black Box Management, as part of a large-scale investment fraud.

The suspect is alleged to have operated as a one-man investment firm that received funds from Black Box investors from March 2020 to April 2024, according to a Sept. 1 RCMP press release. 

The victims invested under the premise that the suspect would use the capital for day trading, police said. Investors would then be provided with weekly email updates from the accused detailing the performance and growth of their accounts.

“Following a complex and thorough investigation, investigators determined the information presented in these email updates were plagiarized from various online sources,” the RCMP said. 

Investigators allege that the accused transferred more than $163 million of the $164 million collected to various external accounts, including his personal trading account and an investment in a U.S.-based company.

The investigation also linked the suspect to several other invoice factoring and investment-related businesses: Intelsense Investment Corp., Invader Management Ltd., and Attebyte Investment Corp.

Craig Michael Thompson, 49, is facing charges of fraud and laundering proceeds of crime. 

He is scheduled to appear at the Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on Sept. 3. The charges have not been tested in court.

The criminal charges were filed a year after the Alberta Securities Commission announced it had sanctioned Thompson, as well as two companies he managed, Black Box Management Corp. and Invader Management Ltd., for securities violations, which included fraud.

In a Statement of Agreed Facts and Admissions, the respondents confirmed that, between 2020 and 2023, they secured CA$150 million from more than 1,000 investors, located in both Alberta and the United States. The scheme collapsed in the fall of 2023, leading to considerable losses for numerous investors.

The majority of investor funds was allocated to disbursing returns to other investors, the commission said. Investors were kept in the dark about the true use of their funds because Thompson provided weekly emailed  statements that consistently displayed positive performance and increasing account balances.

“In reality, Thompson made the numbers up,” the commission said. “Investors received statements showing significant returns, when, in fact, their balance was effectively zero.”

An August 2025 ruling by the commission ordered Thompson and his companies to pay approximately $8.1 million in disgorgement due to their failure to comply with Alberta securities laws as well as an administrative penalty of $750,000 and costs of $14,000. Disgorgement is a legal and financial remedy that forces a person or company to give up profits made from illegal or unethical actions. 

Thompson was also permanently banned from trading in or purchasing any securities.