SEC nabs ‘Runaway Ron’ (March 02, 2004)

American regulators have filed a civil suit against Ronald V. Markham, a promoter described by securities regulators on several continents as ‘the ultimate con man.’

A report by Brent Mudry in Canada Stockwatch notes that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed the suit relating to Markham’s sales of shares in a company that claimed to have a significant gold and platinum discovery near St. George, Utah. The SEC alleges that Markham raised $7 million from investors and misappropriated about half that amount for personal living expenses.

Markham came to the attention of British authorities after complaints surfaced relating to the sale of shares in a company that claimed to have a major gold discovery in Saudi Arabia. He fled to North America, where he became involved in a series of private companies, all claiming to have significant mineral discoveries that typically required “proprietary” assaying and recovery methods.

At various times, Markham claimed to have discovered King Solomon’s mines, the world’s largest diamond deposit, the world’s largest platinum deposit, and then (at the same Oregon property as the world’s largest platinum deposit) one of the world’s largest gold deposits.

In the early 1990s, Markham sold shares in a private company that held the Oregon “platinum-gold project.” His activities came to the attention of the British Columbia Securities Commission after investors discovered that conventional assaying techniques were unable to duplicate the grades of either platinum or gold at the Oregon property. In 1997, he was fined $100,000 and banned for life from trading in British Columbia and from serving as a director or officer of any company.