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by Mike Caswell

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has come to Vancouver seeking a court-ordered deposition of Harmel Singh Rayat's accountant, Mary Ellis. The SEC claims that Ms. Ellis has evidence relating to Mr. Rayat's profits from a pump-and-dump on the OTC Markets from 2018. He and others boosted a company called Renovacare Inc., which had a supposed burn healing device called the "SkinGun."

The request from the SEC is contained in a petition filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Friday, March 17. The SEC is seeking a court order that would direct Ms. Ellis to attend a deposition of 13.5 hours in length (presumably spread over more than one day) at a location in Vancouver. The deposition would be recorded and transcribed so as to form part of the evidence in the SEC's case against Mr. Rayat and others.

The SEC's petition does not state exactly what the regulator intends to ask Ms. Ellis, but it does say that she came up with an "estate planning transaction" that Mr. Rayat used to obtain profits from the scheme. The SEC also says that her present and former employers, MNP LLP and Deloitte LLP, have records relevant to the case. It is seeking the court-ordered production of those records as part of the petition.

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