An attorney for an ancillary marijuana business was found guilty in connection with a $12.2 million securities fraud case involving FusionPharm, a Colorado company that refurbished steel shipping containers into cannabis growing pods.
Guy M. Jean-Pierre, also known as Marcelo Dominguez de Guerra, was convicted by a federal jury in Denver of 28 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, money laundering, wire and mail fraud. He will be sentenced July 10.
Two others involved in the FusionPharm scheme – William J. Sears and Scott M. Dittman – pleaded guilty in 2016 and 2017 to co-conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sears also pleaded guilty to filing false income tax returns.
- With Jean-Pierre’s help, Sears and Dittman acquired a dormant, publicly traded penny stock firm, changed its name to FusionPharm and marketed growing pods to cannabis cultivators and vegetable farmers.
- Prosecutors charged the objective of the conspiracy was to conceal the fact that Sears, who had a prior securities fraud conviction, held a controlling interest in FusionPharm.
- As the company’s de facto legal counsel, Jean-Pierre, among other things, was accused of filing false and backdated documents that allowed FusionPharm to sell restricted stock to entities controlled by Sears in violation of federal securities rules.
