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by Mike Caswell

Vancouver's Yvonne Gasarch has lost an effort to overturn the recent jury verdict against her and others in Boston for their part in the operation run by West Vancouver's Frederick Sharp. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claimed that Mr. Sharp's group helped hidden insiders unload $1-billion worth of shares amidst multiple pump-and-dumps. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) The group provided insiders with an encrypted communications platform and offshore nominees, the SEC said.

The loss for Ms. Gasarch is contained in an order handed down on Friday, Oct. 27, in federal court in Boston. It comes just weeks after the case went to a nine-day trial, with a Boston jury finding her liable for participating in Mr. Sharp's operation. The SEC claimed that Ms. Gasarch, who used the alias "Wires," advised Mr. Sharp's clients on ways to protect their identities and helped them with share transfers.

For her part, Ms. Gasarch contended that the jury's verdict was flawed. In a motion filed on Oct. 25, 2023, she said that the evidence at trial showed that she was acting entirely at the direction of Mr. Sharp. "Ms. Gasarch was a functionary who sat in the reception area of an office suite that included other businesses," her motion stated. "She did not make trades ... engage in stock promotion or any of the other things the SEC claimed led to securities fraud."

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