American authorities and the lawyer for former Vancouver stock promoter David Sidoo appear at odds over the status of civil fraud claims facing the Canadian.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently told a New York court it has continued settlement discussions with the remaining defendants in the case.

Sidoo is facing civil stock fraud allegations in a case that was temporarily stayed in November 2022.

But Brent Baker of Utah-based Spencer Fane LLP said in an email via Sidoo’s publicist that his client is “not currently engaged in substantive settlement discussions” and “no material activity is expected in the near term while the stay remains in place.”

Baker said Sidoo, who declined to speak directly to Business in Vancouver, “looks forward to the facts being fully developed and to resolving this matter as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The SEC issued a civil complaint against Sidoo and seven other men in April 2022, alleging they orchestrated a complex, international stock manipulation scheme that generated at least US$145 million in illicit profits.

Months later, the U.S. Attorney’s Office applied successfully to temporarily stay the civil case while it pursued criminal cases against four of Sidoo’s alleged associates.

“A cursory examination of the indictment and the SEC complaint makes clear that the alleged wrongdoing is essentially the same,” wrote U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who sought to prevent the risk of interference between the two cases.

It is understood the civil case against Sidoo will resume once the criminal cases are resolved. None of the allegations against Sidoo have been proven in court.

Former Vancouver resident Ronald Bauer, the central figure of the alleged fraud ring, was sentenced in May 2025 to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty the previous November to one criminal count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. His case involved seven public companies.

SEC lawyer Benjamin Brutlag wrote to the court this past July that the criminal case against the remaining co-defendants, Craig Auringer and Daniel Ferris, remains ongoing. Criminal charges against Bulgarian citizen Petar Mihaylov were dropped after he reached a civil settlement requiring him to pay US$2.3 million.

“The SEC has continued to engage in substantive settlement discussions with the remaining defendants and is continuing its efforts towards resolving this matter while the case remains stayed,” stated Brutlag.

The SEC accuses Sidoo of fraud in the offer or sale of securities, fraud in the purchase or sale of securities, and unregistered offerings of securities for his alleged part in pump-and-dump operations involving two public companies: North American Oil and Gas and American Helium.

American Helium was a Sidoo-directed Vancouver firm that traded on the TSX Venture Exchange and U.S. over-the-counter (OTC) markets.

Bauer was banned from directing companies for five years in 2006 after settling with the SEC on allegations of market manipulation. He was living in Vancouver at the time.

The SEC has alleged Sidoo partnered with Bauer in 2017 to conduct the pump-and-dump operations of the two companies.

Sidoo, Bauer and others allegedly amassed millions of cheap insider shares after orchestrating reverse takeovers of small ventures, then concealed the shares across an array of international private shell entities, according to the complaint.

The SEC said Sidoo “carefully monitored” the subscriber list for cheap shares, “which ultimately included various Sidoo entities and associates.”

Sidoo then oversaw promotional campaigns through Canadian co-defendant Adam Christopher Kambeitz, who was living in the Cayman Islands, the complaint stated.

They allegedly promoted the companies with misleading marketing materials to generate investor interest before illegally selling the shares at artificially inflated prices, resulting in significant profits at the investors’ expense.

Sidoo, Bauer and Auringer sold at least 18.8 million North American Oil shares for at least US$15.23 million, according to the complaint. Accounts linked to Sidoo and Bauer’s group sold a further 7.64 million American Helium shares for at least US$1.45 million.

Sidoo allegedly co-ordinated American Helium stock sales primarily through a “handpicked” Vancouver broker not named by the SEC.

“Like others, Sidoo used offshore omnibus vehicles and front companies to conceal the fact that he was the beneficiary of stock sales and failed both to disclose his beneficial ownership and trading and to register his stock sales as legally required,” the commission alleges.

A once-prominent stock promoter based out of Vancouver, 62-year-old Sidoo faces a permanent ban from the U.S. stock market and monetary fines if found liable for the alleged fraudulent activity.

Sidoo played five years with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and one year with the BC Lions, according to his website. He retired from football in 1988 and became a stockbroker and stock promoter.

Sidoo resides in a home valued at US$35 million on Belmont Avenue in Vancouver’s West Point Grey neighbourhood.

He has directed several public companies from Vancouver although public records examined by BIV in 2020 show Sidoo’s numerous B.C. penny stock promotions were not a commercial success despite him receiving millions of dollars in compensation.

Sidoo spent three months at SeaTac Federal Detention Center in 2020 for fraud in relation to cheating the U.S. college admissions process for his two sons. Following his conviction, the provincial government stripped Sidoo of his Order of B.C.

Sidoo has no enforcement record with the B.C. Securities Commission and remains free to promote B.C. companies.

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