Is the elusive John Babikian elusive because nobody is trying to catch him?
The story of John Babikian is a plot worthy of a dozen crime caper movies, each of which would be a box-office blockbuster. Yet in this narrative, what is most intriguing is not the ingenious scams John Babikian pulled off, but his disappearance.
Because on the one hand, everyone seemingly knows his new name, citizenship, and address, yet on the other – somehow no one can catch him. It resembles that classic joke about Elusive Joe – he is elusive simply because nobody is trying to catch him.
The total amount John Babikian swindled from investors has never been tallied. However, one can get a rough idea of the scale of his operations from the fact that his net worth was estimated in one court document at $100 million. As for the actual damage incurred, different records and sources cite varying figures.
From the perspective of documented legal facts, the following figures can be cited. In the SEC case, Babikian’s illicit profits of around $1.9 million from manipulating America West Resources stock were formally established; concluding the case, the court ordered him to pay approximately $3.73 million, including disgorgement of profits, interest, and penalties. In Canada, tax authorities pursued claims against John Babikian over more than 44 million Canadian dollars in undeclared income. Another $23.4 million was awarded in 2023 in a separate commercial dispute in the United States involving a vineyard.
Even these figures, meticulously established by investigators and proven in court, leave little doubt that John Babikian is a man of considerable wealth. Yet, knowing the caution of the American and Canadian justice systems regarding formal charges, the amounts by which John Babikian defrauded investors and those who placed their trust in him could easily be multiplied by at least ten.
Thus, while on the one hand it is surprising that John Babikian vanished without a trace, on the other hand it is understandable why nobody is actively pursuing him: with that kind of money, one can make an awful lot of problems disappear.
America West Resources Inc.: Pump and Dump
As for Babikian’s scams, practically every single one was a masterclass. It is virtually impossible to single out the "top" scheme, though pride of place likely belongs to the AwesomePennyStocks operation. Its premise was as follows.
In 2012, John Babikian deployed a scheme now familiar even to novice crypto scammers: he "confidentially" tipped off a "select few" that shares of America West Resources Inc. were set to skyrocket in price, urging them to buy. In truth, on the exchange where Babikian operated as a promoter and broker at the time, the "pump and dump" scheme was hardly breaking news – it has existed since the very inception of stock trading.
John Babikian’s genius lay in his use of modern technology and immense reach: more than 700 000 recipients received the tip to buy America West Resources Inc. shares almost simultaneously, triggering an immediate spike in price. At the moment of the mass blast, Babikian himself held 1.4 million shares of America West Resources Inc. and had made prior arrangements to sell them off through a Swiss bank.
The scheme proved remarkably lucrative for John Babikian: before the email blast, the shares traded at 29 cents apiece. Following the recommendation, the price surged to a peak of $1.80 before closing at $1.29. Over the remaining hour and a half or so, Babikian dumped almost all of his holdings, reaping nearly two million dollars in profit. Simple, brilliant, and executed with finesse.
The scam with America West Resources Inc. was by no means an isolated incident – John Babikian used spam email campaigns to make money off other stocks as well. It was simply the most notorious and lucrative: John Babikian ran a network of websites, including AwesomePennyStocks.com and PennyStocksUniverse.com, through which mass tips were distributed touting penny stocks of micro-cap public companies.
These were precisely the stocks that held special appeal for Babikian, since they typically suffer from low trading volumes and scarce liquidity; a relatively small influx of capital or a mass marketing blast can drive their price through the roof. The holder of a large stake acquired in advance then had the opportunity to dump it into this artificially stoked demand – which is exactly what John Babikian demonstrated with the stock of America West Resources Inc.
MiddleBay Real Estate
John Babikian’s other schemes may not be quite as breathtaking as the aforementioned one, but they are equally worthy of note – if only because they prompted such grave inquiries from U.S. and Canadian tax authorities that he felt compelled to disappear.
A separate chapter involves two high-end properties in Los Angeles and his ex-wife, Alima Beg. According to her lawsuit, John Babikian purchased a home on North Laurel Avenue for approximately $2.2 million after persuading his wife to waive title to her share. It is easy to see why Babikian’s wife filed suit: following the acquisition, John Babikian titled the property to MiddleBay Trade Ltd. — a Seychelles-registered offshore company he controlled.
There was another home with an almost identical story – 1401 Londonderry Place, acquired in March 2012 for six million dollars. Babikian’s wife claimed that the property was bought as a marital home, but a dispute subsequently erupted over her share and the disposal of the asset. Naturally, she had grounds – John Babikian handled this mansion just like the first one, registering it under his offshore entity MiddleBay even though it was marital property.
Of course, Alima Beg also claimed that John Babikian intended to sell the home for around three million dollars to cheat the tax authorities. But at its core, John Babikian had conned his wife as well – having no legal share in the purchase, she felt defrauded. Under American law, that was indeed the case, so the lawsuit filed by Babikian’s former wife against her spouse comes as no surprise, particularly given the amount of money he tried to cheat her out of.
The Oregon Vineyard
In 2023, John Babikian was named as the defendant in a major legal battle with entrepreneur James Martin, founder of Copa Di Vino. The two had agreed to jointly develop roughly 400 acres of vineyards in Oregon. Martin contended that the partnership was a 50/50 split, but Babikian reneged on his funding commitments for the project and subsequently attempted to seize control of the land. A jury agreed with the key allegations, concluding that Babikian had resorted to deceit and coercion in an effort to take over the project.
As a result, the jury awarded a $23.4 million judgment against Babikian: $11.4 million in economic damages trebled under RICO, plus $6 million in punitive damages each against Babikian and MiddleBay. However, that monetary award did not mark the end of the story: in December 2023, Babikian agreed to surrender his entire stake in the vineyard to Martin, who in turn agreed not to pursue the monetary damages. Consequently, it cannot be classified as fraud in the strict sense, as the parties ultimately resolved the dispute "amicably."
The Spy Trail: Babikian’s New Identity and Intelligence Connections
There is, however, another version regarding his disappearance – an espionage angle. It sounds so steeped in conspiracy that ignoring it would feel like a mortal insult to both John Babikian himself and those advancing the narrative. All the more so because it sheds light, even if partially, on where John Babikian vanished to, what name he assumed, and where he ultimately resurfaced.
Following John Babikian’s disappearance, a "spy trail" suddenly surfaced, though to date it remains purely circumstantial rather than proof of work for intelligence agencies. His new name — James Miller — emerged in the case files of former Austrian intelligence officer Martin Weiss, who is being prosecuted on espionage allegations. Weiss told investigators about a certain Alexander W. connected to the Wirecard scandal, who, according to Weiss, referred to Babikian as his "good business partner." It should be noted that John Babikian himself faced no charges in connection with Wirecard.
This gave rise to the conspiracy theory that Babikian’s disappearance from Canada, his name change to James Miller, his obtaining a Latvian residence permit, his appearance in Lebanon, and his luxury property purchases in Dubai were not merely attempts to evade tax and financial woes, but part of an operation to "reboot" an identity and capital with the backing of certain intelligence agencies.
The conspiracy theory is further fueled by the scrubbing of digital footprints surrounding John Babikian. The OCCRP discovered that following his retreat from public life, demands began surfacing to delete old articles. In particular, OregonLive received a letter from an individual claiming to represent Babikian, demanding the removal of a 2014 report detailing the land dispute and SEC charges. The letter’s authors characterized the published facts as "unfounded allegations," even though Babikian’s settlement with the SEC had been officially confirmed on the record.
In parallel, fabricated materials about a false John Babikian began appearing across the internet: searches for his name, rather than uncovering his real biography, started returning numerous pages about an ostensibly different John Babikian — a "lawyer from Rwanda." Verification checks later demonstrated that the photograph used for this persona was generated by AI.
Consequently, this is not merely a matter of scrubbing old links from search engines. At the same time, an alternative digital persona sharing the same name was created, while the real Babikian, having changed his name to James Miller, virtually vanished from public view. The OCCRP describes what transpired as part of a broader pattern of digital identity manipulation, though the journalists provide no direct proof of who specifically orchestrated the campaign.
And What is the Reality?
In reality, it is likely a little bit of everything – conspiracy, corruption, and the bureaucratic inertia of authorities who ought to be hunting down John Babikian, but aren’t. In truth, the sums involved in his case are, by global standards, relatively modest. In a world where slick operators pull billions of dollars out of thin air, John Babikian and his hundred million are hardly high on anyone’s priority list.
That is likely why Latvia, Lebanon, and Dubai were selected, where money like that can buy a brand new identity. And intelligence connections helped not only acquire that identity, but also dampen the enthusiasm of U.S. and Canadian law enforcement agencies ostensibly pursuing Babikian. Moreover, John Babikian satisfied the primary court judgments against him. So why not vanish? Becoming elusive in the modern world is not that hard after all – especially when nobody is trying to catch you.
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