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by Mike Caswell

Quebec's Jean-Francois Amyot has lost his motion to have civil charges thrown out that he faces in the U.S. for the pump-and-dump of Spencer Pharmaceuticals Inc. A judge denied the motion after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Mr. Amyot, 40, "unabashedly orchestrated" the scheme. Among other things, he helped arrange a bogus takeover for Spencer, the SEC claimed.

The charges against Mr. Amyot stem from the 2010 promotion of Spencer Pharmaceuticals, a company that purportedly had a patent related to the absorption of drugs. The SEC claimed that he and others boosted the stock with a number of misleading news releases that culminated in a false $245-million takeover offer for the company. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Mr. Amyot, who had been an officer and director of Spencer, sold $5.8-million worth of stock during the scheme, according to the SEC.

Mr. Amyot filed the motion to dismiss the charges on May 15, 2013, arguing that there was nothing to connect him with any sales of Spencer stock. The SEC had named two funds that sold shares during the scheme, but Mr. Amyot denied having control over either one. He said the funds were held at a brokerage in the Bahamas for the benefit of a Panamanian company. Mr. Amyot also said the pump-and-dump started long after he was an officer or director of Spencer.

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