The Vancouver Sun reports in its Saturday edition that a B.C. Securities Commission hearing panel has found Coquitlam promoter Dan Scammell and an associate, Casper de Beer, illegally sold $1.2-million in shares of two private companies to 99 investors in Canada and the United States. The Sun's David Baines writes that in a decision released this week, the panel ruled Mr. Scammell and Mr. de Beer sold shares of VerifySmart Corp. and Verified Transactions Corp. from 2006 to 2009 without filing a prospectus or being registered to sell shares in B.C. The pair claimed they sold the shares under exemptions to prospectus and registration requirements. Penalties will be assessed at a later date. This stock fiasco first came to light in February, 2009, when Mr. Baines reported that Scammell was selling seed shares of VerifySmart. The company was developing software to prevent credit card fraud. Mr. Scammell told investors that a high-volume merchant processor had signed on to the company's technology. He projected revenues would climb to $200-million by the end of fiscal 2009, and the company's share would start at 5 per cent ($10-million) and increase to 10 per cent ($20-million per year).