The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged four Canadian men and two others living in Florida with perpetrating what it alleges was a US$300 million international Ponzi scheme.

The two accused, Milowe Allen Brost and Gary Allen Sorenson of Calgary, have already been arrested by the RCMP in connection with the alleged scheme, and both are out on bond awaiting trial in Alberta.

In allegations published Thursday, the SEC claims that the pair were the primary architects and beneficiaries of the scheme, which involved promoters portraying themselves as an independent financial education firm, and selling investors gold mining opportunities, which were actually just shell companies.

Instead of making profitable investments, the SEC claims that investor money “whirled through accounts located in the U.S. and Canada as well as the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Ecuador, Honduras, Malaysia, Panama, Peru, Portugal, and Venezuela. Brost and Sorenson diverted investor funds for their personal benefit…”

In addition to Brost and Sorenson, the SEC has charged two other Canadians, one of whom lives in the U.S., and two Florida men.

The SEC’s complaint also charges four companies for their role in the alleged scheme: SGD, Merendon Mining Corp. Ltd., Merendon Mining (Nevada) Inc., and the Institute for Financial Learning Group of Companies, Inc.

None of the allegations have been proven.

IE