Meta Whale has received a securities fraud warning from the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC).

As per ASC’s January 27th Meta Whale fraud warning;

MetaWhale, and its associated exchange W-DEX, is not registered to trade in or advise on securities or derivatives in Alberta.

It is recommended that investors should not deal or engage with firms that are not registered as there is no assurance of any investor protections.

ASC cites Meta Whale associated domains as “meta-whale.com”, “metawhale.net” and “w-dex.ai”.

Meta Whale is an MLM crypto Ponzi run by wanted fugitive Vladimir “Lado” Okhotnikov (right).

Launched in mid 2025, Meta Whale marks the eighth reboot of Okhotnikov’s long-running Forsage Ponzi scheme.

Okhotnikov was indicted in the US in early 2023. The SEC has also filed parallel civil fraud charges.

Okhotnikov had been evading US authorities in Georgia. In March 2024 a Georgian Forsage criminal investigation saw Okhotnikov sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison.

By that stage Okhotnikov had fled to Dubai, where he remains today.

In addition to Alberta, Meta Whale securities fraud warnings have been issued by Slovenia and Quebec. In December, Vietnamese authorities arrested local Meta Whale promoters.