Gary Sorenson arrested for Canada’s largest Ponzi scheme

Sorenson is the second Alberta man arrested in the alleged pyramid sales scam in which the original investors are paid off by new investors.

Milowe Brost, 55, was arrested Sept. 13 on the same two criminal charges as Sorenson, which carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years each. He has also been released on bail.

The pair is accused of bilking 3,000 people in Canada, the U.S. and overseas out of $100 million — and possibly up to $400 million — between 1999 and 2008.

Police said the two men created a business, Syndicated Gold Depository S.A., then formed an agreement to lend money to Merendon Mining with a promise of a high rate of return.

Lured by the promise of high returns, investors were then enticed into offshore shell companies marketed by Brost's firms, Capital Alternatives Inc. and Institute for Financial Learning Group of Companies Inc., said the RCMP.