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by Mike Caswell

Vancouver's Harmel Singh Rayat has reached an out-of-court deal to settle civil charges he faces from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over the Renovacare Inc. scheme. The SEC claims that Mr. Rayat boosted the company with a supposed burn healing device called the "SkinGun." People associated with him realized millions of dollars in gains amidst a $50,000-per-month paid touting campaign, the SEC says. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.)

Mr. Rayat's settlement is set out in a letter to the judge filed on Friday, Dec. 15, in federal court in New York. According to the letter, recent talks between Mr. Rayat and the SEC have produced a settlement that will resolve the matter in its entirety. Both sides have requested that the judge stay all deadlines in the case while the matter goes to the SEC's commissioners for approval (a process that takes about two months).

The letter does not disclose the terms of the settlement, but when it filed the case the SEC had sought a court order banning Mr. Rayat from penny stocks and from serving as an officer or director. The SEC had also sought disgorgement of Mr. Rayat's gains, although calculating that figure may not be straightforward. The SEC said that he indirectly received some of the scheme's $7.5-million in gains through an "estate planning transaction" that his accountant devised.

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