Man with ties to Sudbury, Ont. charged in $42M fraud case in the U.S.

Nathan Gauvin, 26, has been charged with fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (File)

The Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States has charged Nathan Gauvin, 26, and three entities he controls with fraudulent securities offerings that raised more than US$18 million.

Multiple reports have said that Gauvin is from Sudbury, Ont., and he lists Laurentian University as one of the schools he attended on his LinkedIn page. He was arrested in England on Wednesday.

In addition to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) offences, he is also charged with committing more than US$42 million in criminal fraud by the United States Attorney’s New York office.

None of the allegations has been proven in court and he is considered innocent until proven guilty.

According to the SEC, Gauvin controls Blackridge LLC, Gray Digital Capital Management USA, LLC, and Gray Digital Technologies, LLC.

Crypto transfers

Money was transferred in some cases through cryptography, rather than through a centralized authority like a bank or government.

“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,” the SEC said in a news release Wednesday.

He is accused of pretending to control more than $1 billion in assets through Blackridge, “which in reality was a mere shell entity.”

“From September 2022 to November 2024, Gauvin and his entities allegedly raised approximately $18.1 million from investors through an unregistered offering of interests in the ‘Gray Fund,’ a purported diversified investment fund advised by Gray Digital and Gauvin,” the SEC said.

“The complaint alleges that Gauvin and Gray Digital falsely claimed that the Gray Fund generated double-digit monthly returns and held over $78 million in assets, when, in fact, the fund actually had a monthly compounded return of approximately 1.4 per cent and its assets were far lower than claimed.”

Paid for ‘lavish lifestyle’

Gauvin is also accused of using investor funds to pay for a “lavish lifestyle, including using hundreds of thousands of dollars for purchases of custom jewelry, luxury concierge services, real estate, and art.”

A second alleged scheme in May 2024 offered ‘seed stock’ in Gray Digital Technologies at $30,000 per share, “falsely claiming the company had a $60 million valuation and more than $12 million in annual revenue,” the SEC said.

“In reality, the complaint alleges that Gray Digital Technologies had no operations, assets, or revenue. According to the complaint, Gauvin raised at least $60,000 from two retail investors and then ceased communicating with them about this offering.”

The SEC charges Gauvin and his three entities with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and Gauvin, Gray Digital, and Gray Digital Technologies with registration violations.

“In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (on Wednesday) announced criminal charges against Gauvin,” the SEC said.

Those charges include a 21-count indictment for conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, investment adviser fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and aggravated identity theft.

“Gauvin was arrested today in England on a provisional arrest warrant issued from the Eastern District of New York.”

‘House of cards’

“As alleged, the defendant’s investment company was a house of cards constructed with investor funds and held together with lies,” Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in the release.

“When his house of cards collapsed, Gauvin doubled down by obstructing the regulator’s investigation and trying to defraud a lender. Gauvin’s run of lies ends today … This office remains deeply committed to protecting the investing public and the integrity of financial markets. We will continue to relentlessly pursue justice for victims of financial fraud.”

Christopher G. Raia, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said Gauvin is accused of lying about his background, qualifications and investment returns to raise at least $42 million from investors.

“Later, after being notified of a federal investigation into his activities … Gauvin allegedly engaged in a separate scheme, using falsified records, to induce a company to lend him an additional $1.5 million,” Raia said.

“The FBI remains dedicated to dismantling any smoke and mirrors act targeting unsuspecting victims for financial enrichment.”

Gauvin claimed that Gray Digital, which he controlled, had returns of 4,384 per cent between May 2022 and October 2024, and that his claims had been verified by an audit firm.

Doctored statements

“In reality, the asset attestations were based on doctored bank and brokerage statements provided by Gauvin and others to the audit firm and not independently verified,” the release said.

“Rather than invest the funds he raised as represented, Gauvin used most investor deposits to pay investor withdrawals and misappropriated millions of dollars in investor funds, which he spent on luxury goods, jewelry and his personal credit card bills. Gauvin estimated losses from the Gray Digital fraud to be approximately $20 million.”

When Gray Digital collapsed in 2024, Gauvin is accused of obstructing an SEC investigation into the fraud by providing the SEC with fraudulent documents.

Gauvin is also accused of fraudulently raising another $800,000 in credits from two New York banks between May and June of 2025 by using fake bank statements and using “the proceeds to pay personal expenses, including to a private members-only social club in London, England.”

Read the full indictment here.