One investor lost more than $25 million. His entire life savings and inheritance.
That detail comes from the Alberta Securities Commission, which sanctioned Craig Michael Thompson in August 2025 after he admitted to running what the regulator called among the largest Ponzi schemes in Alberta.
On Tuesday, the RCMP announced criminal charges.
The charges
Thompson, 49, of Calgary, was arrested on July 31 and charged with two counts of fraud under section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code and one count of laundering proceeds of crime under section 462.31(1)(a).
The RCMP's Integrated Market Enforcement Team alleges he misappropriated more than $164 million in investor funds through Black Box Management Corp. between March 2020 and April 2024, affecting more than 1,000 investors.
"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," RCMP said. "Investors would then receive weekly email updates from the accused about the performance and growth of their respective accounts."
Police allege the information in those emails was false, and that the updates contained material plagiarized from various online sources.
Of the more than $164 million taken in, RCMP allege Thompson transferred more than $163 million to external accounts, including his own personal trading account and an investment in a U.S.-based company.
Investigators also linked him to several other invoice-factoring and investment businesses: Intelsense Investment Corp., Invader Management Ltd. and Attebyte Investment Corp.
He is scheduled to appear in the Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on September 3. None of the criminal allegations has been proven in court.
He already admitted the securities fraud
This is the part the criminal charges build on.
In August 2025, the Alberta Securities Commission sanctioned Thompson along with Black Box Management Corp. and Invader Management Ltd., after they signed a Statement of Agreed Facts and Admissions.
They admitted that between 2020 and 2023 they raised $150 million from more than 1,000 investors in Alberta and the United States, on the understanding the money would be used for day trading on the stock market. The scheme collapsed in the fall of 2023.
Thompson admitted to two offences under the Alberta Securities Act: acting as a dealer without being registered, and perpetrating a fraud on investors.
The ASC ordered him to pay $8.1 million in disgorgement, a $750,000 administrative penalty and $14,000 in costs, and banned him permanently from trading.
Its 31-page decision described the operation as among the largest Ponzi schemes in Alberta.
He had no education or experience in finance
The ASC decision notes that Thompson has no post-secondary education and no experience in finance, investments or trading.
He was managing $150 million.
The regulator also found he misappropriated $767,494 of investor funds for personal use.
And one investor, identified in the decision only as TF, lost more than $25 million, described as his entire life savings and inheritance.
The plagiarized emails
The weekly updates are the mechanism that kept it running.
Investors received regular reports on how their accounts were performing. RCMP allege the content was lifted from online sources, meaning the market commentary that reassured people their money was working was copied from somewhere else entirely.
That's how a Ponzi scheme survives. Not through returns, but through the appearance of them, delivered often enough that nobody asks for the money back at the same time.
Cochrane and Chestermere were involved
The RCMP investigation received support from the Chestermere and Cochrane RCMP detachments, alongside the Alberta Securities Commission and the Forensic Accounting Management Group.
Local outlets in both communities have noted that detachment involvement raises the possibility of victims in those areas.
If you invested with him
Anyone who believes they are a victim of fraud directly related to this case is asked to contact investigators at FPNWRIMET2023-PFRNOEIPMF2023@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
That's the RCMP's dedicated address for this file, and it's the right first step rather than the general complaint line.
How to check before you invest
The single most useful thing in this story is that Thompson wasn't registered.
Anyone selling investments in Alberta generally must be registered with the Alberta Securities Commission. You can check in about a minute through the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Registration Search at aretheyregistered.ca, or through the ASC directly at asc.ca.
The ASC also publishes an investor alert list of individuals and companies it has flagged.
A few things worth knowing beyond that.
Weekly performance emails are not statements. A real investment account produces statements from a custodian, not updates written by the person holding your money.
One person managing everything is the pattern. Legitimate operations separate who holds the assets from who trades them, because that separation is what makes theft difficult.
Consistent returns in inconsistent markets is the oldest signal there is. Markets have bad months. Portfolios that never do are describing something other than markets.
If something feels wrong, the ASC takes complaints at asc.ca, and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is at 1-888-495-8501.
What happens next
Thompson appears in court September 3. The criminal charges are separate from the securities sanctions he's already subject to, and none of the criminal allegations has been proven.
We will update this article as the case proceeds.
Sources
Craig Michael Thompson, Black Box Management Corp., and Invader Management Ltd. ordered to pay nearly $9M for running a Ponzi scheme — Alberta Securities Commission, August 28, 2025
RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region, Integrated Market Enforcement Team, September 1, 2026
Criminal Code of Canada, sections 380(1)(a) and 462.31(1)(a)
Details of the ASC decision as reported by CBC News.
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