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by Mike Caswell

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil fraud charges against Florida lawyer Guy Jean-Pierre for using forged opinion letters to circumvent a ban the pink sheets had imposed on him. The SEC claims the forged letters allowed a number of companies to issue free-trading shares and to meet their reporting requirements. Mr. Jean-Pierre wrote the letters using his niece's name after the pink sheets refused to accept any more letters from him, the SEC says.

The SEC lists a number of companies for which Mr. Jean-Pierre wrote falsified letters, including Toronto-based explorers Cannon Exploration Inc. and Therma-Med Inc. According to the SEC, Mr. Jean-Pierre submitted attorney letter agreements in which he indicated that a document review had "been competently performed" for the companies. Such letters are necessary for pink sheets companies to avoid having their symbol flagged with a warning for incomplete disclosure.

The allegations against Mr. Jean-Pierre are contained in a civil complaint that the SEC filed on Dec. 6, 2012, in the Southern District of New York. The complaint identifies him as a U.S. lawyer who has moved from Pompano Beach, Fla., to the Dominican Republic. From 2007 to 2010, he was writing attorney opinion letters for pink sheets companies through his Florida law firm, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Pierre LLC.

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