Regulator accuses Canadian and three firms he controls of fraudulent securities offerings
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against a Canadian national and three companies he controls, alleging he ran a series of fraudulent securities offerings that together raised more than US$18 million from investors in the US and abroad.
According to the SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Nathan Gauvin used online communities, especially the social platform Discord, to cultivate a following by presenting himself as an accomplished investment manager with over $1 billion in assets under management. Regulators say Blackridge, LLC was actually a shell entity created to bolster that façade.
The SEC alleges that between September 2022 and November 2024, Gauvin and his firms brought in roughly $18.1 million through an unregistered offering of interests in a purported “Gray Fund,” which he marketed as a diversified investment vehicle. The complaint states that the defendants reported fabricated performance figures and asset totals.
Regulators further claim that Gauvin diverted investor money to finance a high-end personal lifestyle, including luxury goods, services, real estate, and artwork. Another initiative pitched “seed stock” in Gray Digital Technologies at $30,000 per share, accompanied by statements about valuation and revenue that the SEC says were also false.
“Gauvin exploited the trust of his online followers to perpetrate a brazen fraud,” said Jaime Marinaro, Associate Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office. “Investors should always verify the credentials of anyone offering investment opportunities, especially when those opportunities are promoted through social media or online communities.”
The regulator’s complaint accuses Gauvin and the three entities - Blackridge, LLC, Gray Digital Capital Management USA, LLC, and Gray Digital Technologies, LLC - of violating federal securities antifraud provisions and registration rules. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and additional remedies, including barring Gauvin from acting as an investment advisor.
On the same day the SEC announced its case, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unveiled parallel criminal charges against Gauvin.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
