A
26-year-old Canadian citizen faces federal charges for allegedly running a
multimillion-dollar investment fraud that targeted retail investors through
Discord, raising questions about how social media platforms have become hunting
grounds for financial scammers.
Nathan
Gauvin and three entities he controlled allegedly raised more than $18 million
from investors across the United States and abroad between September 2022 and
November 2024, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New
York. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced parallel criminal charges
against Gauvin on December 10.
The case
shows how Gauvin allegedly built trust within Discord communities by positioning
himself as an experienced investment professional, when he was actually a truck
driver with fabricated credentials. He claimed to manage over a billion dollars
through his firm Blackridge, which was actually a shell company.
Jaime Marinaro, Associate Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office
“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.”
More than a year ago, FinanceMagnates.com reported how a once-popular gaming chat had turned into a hub for retail traders, and, along with them, for scammers.
Discord Community Becomes
Investor Pool
Gauvin
started in late 2021 by joining a Discord community called Cryptonaiz, where he
went by “Gray” and shared investment insights about crypto assets. He
gradually built a following by providing what appeared to be objective
investment advice.
By early
2022, Gauvin created his own Discord community called Gray Digital, initially
charging $200 per month for membership as an educational service. Members who
followed him from Cryptonaiz became his target investor base.
In March
2022, Gauvin launched the Gray Fund through his entity Gray Digital Capital
Management USA, which he claimed was a diversified investment fund that would
hold and trade debt and equity securities, derivatives, and crypto assets.
He directed
interested Discord members to Gray Digital’s website, where they could invest
by sending wire transfers, credit card payments, or stablecoins.
Gauvin took
no steps to verify whether investors were accredited until July 2024, when Gray
Digital finally began requiring Know Your Customer verifications. He never
registered any securities offering with the SEC.
Chat-group
scams carried out through Discord, as well as Telegram and WhatsApp, have
become increasingly common. A few months ago, New Zealand’s financial markets
regulator was among those warning about them.
Fabricated Returns and
Fake Brokerage Statements
From
February 2023 to January 2025, Gauvin and Gray Digital claimed on their website
that the Gray Fund generated monthly returns ranging from 1.14% to 21.14%, with
17 of 24 months showing double-digit returns. In a February 2025 update, they
claimed the fund held over $78 million in assets with a cumulative return of
4,775.88% since inception.
The reality
was starkly different. Trading in accounts holding Gray Fund assets generated
monthly compounded returns of approximately 1.4% during the period. Gauvin
allegedly doctored brokerage statements from a Connecticut-based firm to show
inflated asset values, even though the accounts were held in Blackridge’s name,
not the Gray Fund’s.
In one
example from January 2024, Gray Digital hired the South African affiliate of an
international accounting firm to verify assets. The firm issued a report
claiming Gray Digital had $37 million in assets based on a falsified brokerage
statement Gauvin provided. The actual account balance was $7.5 million.
Gauvin also
fabricated a $5 million line of credit from Saudi National Bank in February
2023, telling his Discord community it would increase monthly growth benchmarks
from 10% to “30 to 50%”. He posted what appeared to be a contract
document to Discord, but the SEC alleges he copied an unrelated credit
agreement filed by another company and publicly available on EDGAR.
In 2024
alone, proceeds for fraudsters from investment scams were estimated to exceed $12 billion, according to data from Chainalysis.
Investor Withdrawals
Frozen, Funds Diverted
In
mid-2024, Gauvin and Gray Digital stopped honoring withdrawal requests. The
company announced in July 2024 that withdrawals would only be allowed
quarterly, while continuing to accept monthly deposits from new investors.
Gauvin
blamed “banking issues” and “malicious persons” who
allegedly contacted Gray Digital’s banks and exploited the monthly withdrawal
structure. None of these explanations were true, according to the SEC.
On October
26, 2024, Gauvin posted that Gray Digital was “temporarily pausing further
communications”. He never fulfilled pending withdrawal requests.
Financial
analysis shows Gauvin misappropriated approximately $6.3 million of investor
funds from February 2023 to March 2025. He transferred over $2.8 million
directly to personal accounts and used investor money to pay off personal
credit cards.
Spending
records show approximately $250,000 on custom jewelry, more than $100,000 on
luxury concierge services, approximately $180,000 on real estate expenses, and
more than $250,000 on art purchases.
The SEC’s
complaint charges Gauvin and his three entities with violating antifraud
provisions of federal securities laws. It also charges Gauvin, Gray Digital,
and Gray Digital Technologies with registration violations.
A
26-year-old Canadian citizen faces federal charges for allegedly running a
multimillion-dollar investment fraud that targeted retail investors through
Discord, raising questions about how social media platforms have become hunting
grounds for financial scammers.
Nathan
Gauvin and three entities he controlled allegedly raised more than $18 million
from investors across the United States and abroad between September 2022 and
November 2024, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New
York. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced parallel criminal charges
against Gauvin on December 10.
The case
shows how Gauvin allegedly built trust within Discord communities by positioning
himself as an experienced investment professional, when he was actually a truck
driver with fabricated credentials. He claimed to manage over a billion dollars
through his firm Blackridge, which was actually a shell company.
Jaime Marinaro, Associate Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office
“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.”
More than a year ago, FinanceMagnates.com reported how a once-popular gaming chat had turned into a hub for retail traders, and, along with them, for scammers.
Discord Community Becomes
Investor Pool
Gauvin
started in late 2021 by joining a Discord community called Cryptonaiz, where he
went by “Gray” and shared investment insights about crypto assets. He
gradually built a following by providing what appeared to be objective
investment advice.
By early
2022, Gauvin created his own Discord community called Gray Digital, initially
charging $200 per month for membership as an educational service. Members who
followed him from Cryptonaiz became his target investor base.
In March
2022, Gauvin launched the Gray Fund through his entity Gray Digital Capital
Management USA, which he claimed was a diversified investment fund that would
hold and trade debt and equity securities, derivatives, and crypto assets.
He directed
interested Discord members to Gray Digital’s website, where they could invest
by sending wire transfers, credit card payments, or stablecoins.
Gauvin took
no steps to verify whether investors were accredited until July 2024, when Gray
Digital finally began requiring Know Your Customer verifications. He never
registered any securities offering with the SEC.
Chat-group
scams carried out through Discord, as well as Telegram and WhatsApp, have
become increasingly common. A few months ago, New Zealand’s financial markets
regulator was among those warning about them.
Fabricated Returns and
Fake Brokerage Statements
From
February 2023 to January 2025, Gauvin and Gray Digital claimed on their website
that the Gray Fund generated monthly returns ranging from 1.14% to 21.14%, with
17 of 24 months showing double-digit returns. In a February 2025 update, they
claimed the fund held over $78 million in assets with a cumulative return of
4,775.88% since inception.
The reality
was starkly different. Trading in accounts holding Gray Fund assets generated
monthly compounded returns of approximately 1.4% during the period. Gauvin
allegedly doctored brokerage statements from a Connecticut-based firm to show
inflated asset values, even though the accounts were held in Blackridge’s name,
not the Gray Fund’s.
In one
example from January 2024, Gray Digital hired the South African affiliate of an
international accounting firm to verify assets. The firm issued a report
claiming Gray Digital had $37 million in assets based on a falsified brokerage
statement Gauvin provided. The actual account balance was $7.5 million.
Gauvin also
fabricated a $5 million line of credit from Saudi National Bank in February
2023, telling his Discord community it would increase monthly growth benchmarks
from 10% to “30 to 50%”. He posted what appeared to be a contract
document to Discord, but the SEC alleges he copied an unrelated credit
agreement filed by another company and publicly available on EDGAR.
In 2024
alone, proceeds for fraudsters from investment scams were estimated to exceed $12 billion, according to data from Chainalysis.
Investor Withdrawals
Frozen, Funds Diverted
In
mid-2024, Gauvin and Gray Digital stopped honoring withdrawal requests. The
company announced in July 2024 that withdrawals would only be allowed
quarterly, while continuing to accept monthly deposits from new investors.
Gauvin
blamed “banking issues” and “malicious persons” who
allegedly contacted Gray Digital’s banks and exploited the monthly withdrawal
structure. None of these explanations were true, according to the SEC.
On October
26, 2024, Gauvin posted that Gray Digital was “temporarily pausing further
communications”. He never fulfilled pending withdrawal requests.
Financial
analysis shows Gauvin misappropriated approximately $6.3 million of investor
funds from February 2023 to March 2025. He transferred over $2.8 million
directly to personal accounts and used investor money to pay off personal
credit cards.
Spending
records show approximately $250,000 on custom jewelry, more than $100,000 on
luxury concierge services, approximately $180,000 on real estate expenses, and
more than $250,000 on art purchases.
The SEC’s
complaint charges Gauvin and his three entities with violating antifraud
provisions of federal securities laws. It also charges Gauvin, Gray Digital,
and Gray Digital Technologies with registration violations.
