The SEC has been unable to locate Craig Grant for service in Jamaica.
As an alternative, the regulator now seeks permission to effect service via email and publication.
The SEC sued Grant in May 2021. The regulator seeks to recover over $1.3 million, which Grant acquired as one of BitConnect’s top promoters.
Upon learning of the SEC’s lawsuit against him, Craig Grant fled the US for Jamaica.
There the SEC has been unable to enlist the assistance of Jamaican authorities, as Jamaica is not a signatory to the Hague Convention.
Independent attempts to locate Grant initially led to a residence in Spanish Town.
Despite the individual served being of roughly the same age as Grant and having the same three initials, that turned out to be a dead-end.
Renewed efforts to locate Grant saw the SEC narrow his location down to Rock Spring, Trelawny Parish.
As explained by the SEC;
Rock Spring, Trelawny, with largely unpaved roads and with residences lacking specific street and house addresses.
Despite a process servers best efforts to canvas Rock Spring, Grant continues to evade the SEC.
On February 22nd the SEC requested permission to serve Grant via email and publication.
Service on Grant by email comports with constitutional notions of due process while promoting the speedy administration of justice.
The SEC argues service by publication is appropriate in this case, as it’s unlikely Grant is unaware of the SEC’s lawsuit.
there is at least a high likelihood that Grant has knowledge of this lawsuit because the Commission emailed him a courtesy copy of the Complaint upon filing it and Grant appears to have left the United States for Jamaica shortly thereafter.
In addition, the filing of this case was widely reported.
In addition to that, I can confirm Grant is an avid reader of BehindMLM.
Grant has been quick to delete YouTube videos referenced on BehindMLM in the past. Just recently we noted Grant going by “Dulse Poger” on Twitter.
Within ~24 hrs of that article going live, Grant changed his Twitter handle to “Nibiru”:
One interesting claim made by the SEC’s Jamaican process server is that Grant is living with his spouse in Jamaica.
Sometime between January 14 and 21, 2022, agent discovered that Craig Anthony Grant is married.
The agent informed me that Craig Anthony Grant resided with his spouse in Rock Spring.
I’m not sure how reliable this information is.
I’m aware Grant married Victoria Misacova in the 2000s.
Vicky, as she was known, met Grant through an online dating service.
As recounted by Grant;
I was deeply in love with the intentions to marry Vicky, this was the easiest if not only way Vicky could get a visa to live in Miami with me.
In the months prior I had many conversations with Vicky about who I am, and she knew I did not believe in marriage. I explained to her that I just started making all this money and I plan to do allot [sic] of traveling and partying, and that she would not be the only woman in my life.
Grant and Misacova married in July 2000. What followed was a complicated relationship between Grant, Vicky, escorts and other girlfriends.
One of those girlfriends was Yuliana Avalos, aka Julie, whom Grant first met several years prior.
Over 2002 and 2003 Grant would father his second and third children; two sons, one from Vicky and one from Julie.
Vicky and Grant split in 2004. I’m unclear on whether they ever got divorced.
Grant and Julie continued on and remain together. They never married.
As the SEC found out when they attempted service, Grant abandoned Julie and his son in Florida when he fled for Jamaica.
The Commission first attempted service on Grant at his address in Kissimmee, Florida in early June 2021, but was advised by his former girlfriend at that address that he had relocated to Jamaica (at an unknown address).
Julie is not only still with Grant, she’d travelled with Grant to his grandmother’s property more than enough times to know where it is.
We know Grant and Julie are still together, as after he fled, Grant would regularly upload voice calls to Julie and post them to one of his YouTube channels.
Grant deleted those videos in late 2021, shortly after BehindMLM reported Grant was likely facing indictment in the US.
In any event unless Julie has left the US sometime between December 2021 and now, Grant is living by himself.
The property adjacent to where he’s staying belongs to his grandmother. Whether she’s still alive is unclear.
Possible scenarios that come to mind are
- Grant has married Julie and she’s moved to Jamaica; or
- There’s some shenanigans going on with government records, making it look like Grant is living with a spouse when he isn’t.
In any event the SEC have requested permission to effect service through three newspapers available in Jamaica.
If approved, the SEC will publish a notice directed at Grant
once weekly for four consecutive weeks, in the Jamaica publications Jamaica Observer and The Gleaner, and in the International New York Times.
The Commission understands that each of these publications is widely circulated in Jamaica.
A decision on the SEC’s motion remains pending at time of publication.
Update 17th March 2022 – The SEC was given permission to serve Grant via publication on March 1st.
Update 20th June 2022 – On June 17th the SEC filed a motion informing the court that service by publication on Grant is complete.
The court has scheduled a Status Conference for June 30th.
Update 2nd July 2022 – On June 23rd the court canceled the scheduled June 30th Status Conference:
The conference scheduled for June 30, 2022, is canceled.
As above, no explanation for the cancellation was given.