Craig Auringer Arrested: Who Is He From Vancouve? Wanted For $ 100 Million scam

A warrant for the arrest of Craig Auringer, a 52-year-old Canadian living in the Bahamas, had been issued by Damien Williams, the district attorney for New York, back in April. He was charged with belonging to “The Group,” a group of international speculators who utilized the “pump and dump” strategy to amass illegal profits.

He strolled along Via Manzoni as any other tourist would. The Armani hotel in Milan’s center, where he had stayed, had his name on the cards, but there was no sign of him at the airport

On Monday afternoon, Auringer was stopped by police for a random check of a steering wheel. To learn that he was a wanted man internationally, all that was necessary was to enter his name into the archive. Before the extradition hearing in the Court of Appeal, he was transported to San Vittore.

The Vancouver-based method entailed buying up shares of small businesses on the global market and pushing them out to other investors through phony advertising campaigns that contained fake information.

Auringer is charged with being a key member of “The Group,” a group of international speculators who are accused of illegally amassing over $100 million through the practice of “pump and dump,” which entails artificially inflating the price of a small cap stock to sell stocks acquired at a discount at a higher price.

Investigations revealed that a Vancouver, Canada-based company was involved in “rounding up” shares of minor companies found on the global market, which were then “pumped” using fictional advertising campaigns and misleading information before being sold at the top of their quotation.

Auringer was halted by the police, to whom he immediately provided the paperwork. It took some time for the systems to recognize Auringer’s name as an international fugitive.

B.C. was charged as well. Curtis William Lehner, a local and former B.C. According to authorities, Ronald Bauer and Craig Auringer live in the United Kingdom. Additionally detained were Canadians Anthony Korculanic, Domenic Calabrigo, and Julius Cargo. Of the Canadian defendants, Auringer is the only one who is still at large.

The claimed scam covered the beneficial ownership of firm shares and trades via a global network of shell corporations.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “While on paper the defendants and their co-conspirators had no connection to these companies, they exercised substantial control, including installing management at the companies, financing the companies’ operations, and funding payments for attorneys to prepare public filings.”

The defendants allegedly carried out trades between entities to artificially boost the trading volume and price of shares to complete the alleged plan. Additionally, they reportedly ran advertising campaigns that regularly made untrue and deceptive statements about the companies. They allegedly cold-called investors using “boiler rooms” or contact centers to increase interest in the dubious stocks.

According to officials, at least one base for promotions was in Vancouver. Christopher McKnight, a resident of Vancouver, is suspected of helping Vasseur and Lehner with the advertisements. In January 2020, the SEC charged McKnight with securities fraud.