Alleged fraudster Casavant dies a fugitiveAlleged fraudster Casavant dies a fugitive The StarPhoenix February 21, 2014 The former CEO of a diamond mining company involved in an alleged penny-stock fraud has died at the age of 57, U.S. federal authorities said. Urban Casavant, the former CEO of CMKM Diamonds Inc. who claimed to hold mineral rights near Prince Albert and who was believed to be living as a fugitive in Saskatoon, died Feb. 14, authorities said. The cause of his death is not clear. Casavant had been ordered by a Nevada civil court in September 2009 to repay more than $31.5 million US in connection with the alleged penny-stock fraud involving the Nevada-based diamond mining company, Casavant and several others were originally indicted by a Las Vegas federal grand jury in 2009 in a scheme to defraud tens of thousands of investors across the country through the sale of unregistered shares of the company’s stock. Federal prosecutors later alleged in an 85-page superseding indictment in March 2010 that the scheme took in $70 million. Casavant, who once worked as a Prince Albert prison guard, was also dealt a civil penalty of $31.5 million. According to investigators with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Casavant and a number of American partners conspired to sell billions of unregistered CMKM stock to 40,000 investors around the world between 2003 and 2005. The SEC’s court filings in Nevada say CMKM did not have any meaningful mining operations or records and was focusing on issuing and promoting company stock. Casavant fled to Canada following his original indictment in 2009 and was fighting extradition to Las Vegas. The case is still before the courts. © Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix