Benjamin Thompson Kirk: Scammer Charged by SEC Exposed! (Update 2024)
Benjamin Thompson Kirk is a businessman who has faced multiple fines from various authorities for running financial scams.
In 2015, he faced fines from the Alberta Securities Commission for running a ‘pump and dump’ scheme with two other men.
These schemes are performed by dishonest individuals, or groups to deceive the people and obtain money from them. Many financial crimes are taking place and people easily believe in fake investment platforms and get nothing.
The Alberta Securities Commission fined him $100,000 and imposed a permanent ban on him from taking in the Alberta securities market. His crime partners in this case were John Bruce Kirk and Dylan Leslie Boyle.
Together, the three men promoted investments in companies they controlled. These companies were Skymark Research, Liberty Analytics, and Emerging Stock Report.
Their companies claimed to provide consumers with independent market research even though none of the three men including Benjamin Thompson Kirk had any registration to act as advisors.
Furthermore, they admitted pumping the shares of Tradeshow Marketing and Pacific Blue Energy, two US-based firms.
More Details on the Action of ASC Against Benjamin Thompson Kirk:
They promoted the firms through phone calls and promotional emails. Even though they had significant shares of the companies, Benjamin Thompson Kirk and the other two never disclosed this information.
This caused the share prices of those two companies to skyrocket artificially.
Documentation reveals that the three men had told the investors they would receive massive returns as the company was on the brink of a breakout. However, the Alberta Securities Commission pointed out that they had no reasonable basis to make such claims without sharing the risky nature of such investments.
Also, it’s worth noting that Benjamin Thompson Kirk is the son of Tradeshow founder Bruce Kirk. He and his brother, John Kirk, didn’t reveal this fact to the investors either.
ASC noticed that the Kirk brothers had substantial ongoing involvement in Pacific Blue and its operations. Furthermore, ASC highlights that Pacific Blue is a shell company to help them with the purchase.
When the share prices peaked, the three men dumped their shares causing the stock’s value to plummet.
That’s not all. ASC noted that the three men were facing a lawsuit in New York from the US Securities and Exchange Commission as well.
The Latest Pump and Dump Scam of Benjamin Thompson Kirk
In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against 13 British Columbians for running an alleged $1 billion pump-and-dump scheme.
The mastermind of this alleged fraudulent scheme was Fred Sharp, a West Vancouver resident, according to the SEC.
Apart from Fred Sharp, Benjamin Thompson Kirk was a prominent part of this scam as well.
The team ran a highly advanced and complex pump-and-dump scam from 2010 to 2019. They used multiple shell companies Fred Sharp had created.
Also, Fred used to be a lawyer before turning into a businessman.
The SEC and the FBI alleged that Benjamin Thompson Kirk and Fred Sharp were using shell companies to hide their beneficial ownership of the shares they were promoting.
“They made over $770 million in net profit through this fraudulent scheme” – the US Securities and Exchange Commission
Furthermore, the allegations say that the insiders (Jay Scott Kirk Lee, Benjamin Thompson Kirk, Fred Sharp, and others) kept their hidden shares hidden through nominee owners and in portions of less than 5% of the total shareholdings to disguise disclosure requirements.
Similarly, they made misrepresentations to brokers and trading agents to make the insider shares seem legally tradable on the open market to retail investors.
Benjamin Thompson Kirk and his accomplices allegedly pumped the companies before dumping their shares.
The SEC said in a statement that the defendants, in this case, were clients of Fred Sharp and his offshore platform. Also, they pointed out that the platform was a service provider for the illegal requirements of those who wanted to perform penny stock fraud.
Also, they claim that this group of scammers was integral to a decade-long shell scheme that earned over $770 million in net profit from $1 billion in gross stock sales.
The SEC filed the charging document in the District of Massachusetts where most of the victims reside. This document shows that Benjamin Thompson Kirk and his accomplices traded at least 10 junior American companies earning approximately $77.3 million illegally.
Also, the SEC said that the defendants believed that joining Fred’s network of shell companies would allow them to commit penny stock fraud without accountability.
How Did Fred Sharp, Benjamin Thompson Kirk, and the Others Run This Scheme:
After the news of these charges broke out, the BC Securities Commission placed trading bans on Benjamin Thompson Kirk on January 25, 2021.
Also, Benjamin Thompson Kirk used to communicate with Fred Sharp through an encrypted cell phone network. There, he called himself “Bertie”.
Other notable people involved in this scam were Courtney Kelln and Yvonne Gasarch. They are all facing criminal securities fraud charges.
How did they run this scam?
For starters, they merged a public company called Buka Ventures Inc. with another private firm, Nutranomics. In 2013, it traded at 12 cents per share.
The scammers made ridiculous claims about the company.
Furthermore, Benjamin Thompson Kirk incorporated a marketing firm with Fred called Nugget Enterprises LLC in Saint Kitts, a Caribbean country. The purpose of this company was to conceal Benjamin’s use and origins of the promotional materials.
Afterward, they discussed in detail about when to perform manipulated trades and started promoting the firms in the fall of 2013.
After they promoted the firm, its stock value increased to $1 per share and they sold all of their Nutranomics shares immediately.
Benjamin Thompson Kirk, Fred Sharp, and the rest owned 20 million shares of the company and earned gross proceeds of over $16.35 million.
Other companies they used for their fraudulent scheme were Independence Energy, Willow Creek, iTalk, Punchline, Green Innovations, Axiom, and Ami James.
The SEC wants permanent injunctions, civil penalties, bars from trading penny stock, and repayment of their illegal funds.
Using Fake DMCA Notices to Takedown News Articles
It seems someone representing Benjamin Thompson Kirk is posting fake DMCA notices against news articles that mention his fraudulent history.
DMCA notices usually help companies prevent copyright infringement. However, many scammers copy the content they don’t want to show up on Google, post it on their website with a changed date, and start claiming that they were the original owners.
Fake DMCA notices constitute fraud, perjury, misrepresentation, and identity theft.
They are a highly notorious, illegal, and unethical tactic.
Furthermore, many scammers use this method to hide critical reviews and any incriminating evidence from the internet.
For example, Snir Moshe Hananya is a money launderer who used this tactic to hide his shady past.
Similarly, MSP Limited is a forex scam employing this tactic to hide the reviews of its customers as they expose their shady activities.
<<<Benjamin Thompson Kirk’s marketers might post a fake DMCA notice against this article as well. If they do, I’ll rebut it and add an update here.
Conclusion
Seeing the various charges of fraud against Benjamin Thompson Kirk and his history of running fraudulent schemes, I don’t think you should trust him.
He was involved in a multi-million penny stock scam and before that, he faced charges for running another similar to this one.
Furthermore, someone representing him is posting fake DMCA notices to take down his fraudulent past. Due to these reasons, I don’t recommend working with him. Beware!
