Canadian penny stock trader John Babikian, once dubbed the “Wolf of Montreal,” obtained a new legal identity, secured residency in Latvia, and bought a luxury apartment in Dubai after disappearing from public view following a U.S. securities settlement, according to a report published by OCCRP. 

Babikian, a former Montreal resident, agreed in 2014 to pay $3.7 million into a victim compensation fund to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations tied to an online penny stock “scalping” scheme, without admitting or denying responsibility. By then, he had already left Canada, where authorities said he owed about $14 million in unpaid taxes, OCCRP said. 

The investigative news organization traced Babikian through Lebanon, Latvia, and the United Arab Emirates and obtained copies of Canadian passports, including one issued in 2019 showing he had legally changed his name to “James Miller”. The new identity surfaced in Austrian court files, which also included a Latvian residence permit issued under the Miller name. 

Leaked real estate records from the news agency’s Dubai Unlocked investigation also showed Babikian, using the Miller alias, bought an apartment in Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah for $4.6 million in 2022. 

Canadian investigators allege Babikian failed to report more than C$44 million in income between 2008 and 2012 and Quebec tax authorities said they had seized and liquidated some of his assets, including valuable sculptures and hundreds of bottles of wine, but failed to recover a Bugatti Veyron, according to the report. 

The news organization also found signs that Babikian may have attempted to manipulate his online image, including false claims that he had been acquitted in the SEC case and suspicious online profiles promoting another supposed “John Babikian.” Alan Dershowitz told OCCRP that a quote attributed to him in one such profile was fake. 

Read more at OCCRP