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by Mike Caswell

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil fraud charges against Phillip Offill, a disbarred lawyer with Canadian connections, over a scheme to steal and sell shares of an OTC Markets listing. The SEC claims that Mr. Offill and an associate dumped $1.3-million worth of shares that did not belong to them, obtaining the stock with forged signatures, among other things. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) The scheme began shortly after Mr. Offill left prison for his part in a prior pump-and-dump scheme run by two Ontario men.

The charges against Mr. Offill are contained in a civil complaint that the SEC filed on Wednesday, Jan. 19, in federal court in Texas. The complaint identifies Mr. Offill as a Dallas resident who in 2010 received eight years in jail for securities fraud and other charges. Also named is Justin Herman, a Pennsylvania resident recently convicted for an unrelated pump-and-dump.

The SEC accuses the men of a scheme that began after Mr. Offill left prison in 2016. Following his release, he began working in the office of an associate, holding himself out as a paralegal, the SEC says. To cover up his conviction, he used the alias "Jim Jimerson" in business communications, according to the complaint.

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