Avtar Dhillon biography

Dr. Avtar Dhillon M.D. serves as Executive Independent Chairman of the Board of the Company. Dr. Dhillon is a life sciences entrepreneur with more than 35 years of experience. As a founder/co-founder or lead investor in dozens of life science companies, he has raised more than $1 billion in public and private financings. As President and CEO of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dr. Dhillon led a turnaround with multiple successful financings and licensing deals with Merck, Wyeth (now Pfizer) and Roche. Before joining Inovio, he was Vice President of MDS Capital Corp. (now Lumira Capital Corp.). Dr. Dhillon has served as a director of many public and private companies. He currently sits on the board of Emerald Bioscience Inc. and is an active board member and chairman for multiple private life science and investment companies. Prior to his business career, Dr. Dhillon practiced family medicine. He has a BSc (Honours) in Human Physiology and an MD from the University of British Columbia.

What is the salary of Avtar Dhillon?

As the Executive Independent Chairman of the Board of Emerald Health Therapeutics, the total compensation of Avtar Dhillon at Emerald Health Therapeutics is $2,726,510. There are no executives at Emerald Health Therapeutics getting paid more.

What does Emerald Health Therapeutics do?

Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells medical cannabis for medical purpose in Canada. The company is also involved in developing natural health products. It offers dried cannabis strains, pre-rolls, and cannabis oil products to its medical patients. The company was formerly known as T-Bird Pharma Inc. and changed its name to Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. in June 2015. Emerald Health Therapeutics, Inc. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Biography :   [Avtar Dhillon] has served as Chairman of the Board of Inovio since 2009. Dr. Dhillon was Executive Chairman of Inovio from July 2009 to June 2011, and was the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer from 2001 until June 2009, when the company merged with VGX Pharmaceuticals. Beginning in 1989, Dr. Dhillon practiced family medicine for over 12 years. In 1997 and 1998 he consulted to Cardiome Pharma Corp. He was engaged by MDS Capital Corp. (now Lumira Capital Corp.) as a consultant in 1998, and subsequently became an investment manager and vice president. Dr. Dhillon holds a Bachelor of Science degree, with Honors, in Human Physiology, and M.D. degree, both from the University of British Columbia. 

SAN DIEGO and OSLO, Norway, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- [Genetronics Biomedical Corporation]. , a late stage developer of oncology and other therapies using electroporation to deliver drugs and nucleic acids, announced today the acquisition of Oslo-based [Inovio AS ], a leader in patented gene delivery technology for the most efficient, nonviral method for gene transfer to skeletal muscles. Inovio's use of electroporation for gene therapy and DNA vaccines is a complement to Genetronics' existing electroporation therapy program. The acquisition expands Genetronics' intellectual property in electroporation, expands the number of agreements with major pharmaceutical companies, and provides for the near-term initiation of a Phase I/II DNA vaccine clinical trial.

The deal includes cash in Inovio's treasury of approximately $775,000 and approximately $2.0M in current and anticipated appropriations for biodefense research from the US Army and other committed grants. The share purchase agreement consists of $3M in cash, $7M in Genetronics stock, and potential additional share payments given the achievement of certain revenue milestones. In addition, Iacob Mathiesen, Ph.D., Inovio's CEO, will serve as Executive Director, Gene Delivery of Genetronics.

"This is a perfect strategic fit as we increase our licensing activities in the area of DNA therapies involving intramuscular electroporation for application to vaccines and immunotherapy," said  [Dr. Avtar Singh Dhillon (born 1961)], Genetronics' President and CEO. "Together with Dr. Mathiesen and his team, we will promote and advance gene-based collaborations with existing and new partners. We anticipate that license revenue from our DNA delivery technology will be increasingly important in creating additional value for our shareholders."

"I am delighted to bring our technology and products to [ Genetronics Biomedical Corporation], the market leader in electroporation-based therapies," noted Iacob Mathiesen, Ph.D., [the CEO of Inovio AS]. "Genetronics is in an enviable position to enable the advancement of DNA vaccinations and gene therapy, and I am certain that the company will play a prominent role in this promising and rapidly growing area."

• About [ Genetronics Biomedical Corporation] :    Genetronics Biomedical Corporation is a late stage biomedical company focused on building an oncology franchise based on its proprietary electroporation therapy. The therapy targets a significant unmet clinical need: the selective killing of cancer cells and local ablation of solid tumors while preserving healthy tissue. The company is moving its lead product, the MedPulser(R) Electroporation Therapy System, through pre-marketing studies for head and neck cancer and skin cancer in Europe, where it has CE Mark accreditation, and a Phase III pivotal study for recurrent head and neck cancer in the U.S. Merck, Vical, Chiron, the US Navy, and other partners are employing Genetronics' electroporation technology, which enhances local delivery and cellular uptake of a number of biopharmaceuticals, in their development of novel DNA vaccines and gene therapies. Genetronics is a leader in electroporation, with over 240 patents worldwide that are issued, allowed or pending. More information can be obtained at http://www.genetronics.com/.

[Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated]. said Friday that [Dr. Avtar Singh Dhillon (born 1961)] has become nonexecutive chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Dhillon was initially appointed as executive chairman of the board in 2009, in conjunction with the merger between [Inovio Biomedical Corporation] and [VGX Pharmaceuticals Inc.], and given the job of providing “continuity and strategic guidance during the integration of the two companies.

Going forward, Dhillon will focus exclusively on his role as chairman and will no longer have executive responsibilities.

“Avtar has provided strong leadership and support during the integration and build up of [Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated] (NYSE Amex:INO),” said [Dr. Jong Joseph Kim (born 1969)], the company’s president and CEO. “We look forward to his continued leadership as a non-executive chairman.  [...]

A Vancouver physician turned stock promoter has until Nov. 30 to respond to charges he was involved in an alleged $1 billion international stock fraud scheme.

In early August, Dr. Avtar Singh Dhillon was arrested in Long Beach, California, while residing in his $12 million, 9,300-square-foot, yacht-lined waterfront home — once advertised as one of the region's most expensive residential properties. He has since turned in his passport and is monitored by authorities with a GPS ankle bracelet after posting a $1.5 million bond. 

Dhillon, 60, was once a family physician, after obtaining a medical degree from the University of B.C., but over the past 25 years he has pivoted his career toward promoting mainly health science companies and claimed to have raised more than $1 billion from investors. He's also served as past chairman of the Cannabis Canada Council and is a former member of the securities practice advisory committee to the B.C. Securities Commission.

Dhillon's most recent and prominent Canadian venture is a medical marijuana company that he founded with prominent Vancouver securities lawyers and family members, including his cousin, a convicted heroin trafficker.

Local doctor embroiled in alleged $1 billion scheme

On Aug. 3, the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud, and two counts of obstruction of a proceeding before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Dhillon.

The allegations are part of a much broader international pump and dump scheme alleged by American authorities to have been orchestrated by Frederick Sharp, a West Vancouver resident and former lawyer tied to the Panama Papers.

Sharp is accused of criminal conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud. Sharp and Dhillon also face various civil charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alongside alleged co-conspirators Paul Sexton of Anmore, Jackson Friesen of Delta, Graham Taylor of Vancouver, and Zhiying Yvonne (Chen) Gasarch of Richmond, Mike Veldhuis of Vancouver and Courtney Kelln of Surrey. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also frozen dozens of bank accounts, including many in Canada, associated with the defendants, who are all presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The SEC describes the case as "a sophisticated, multi-year, multi-national attack on the United States financial markets and retail United States investors by foreign and domestic actors." 

The group is accused of hiding their beneficial ownership of millions of insider shares through a web of local and offshore shell companies and brokerage accounts controlled by Sharp. 

According to the SEC, Sharp allegedly set up an encrypted cellphone network called "Q" and referred to himself as "Bond" to facilitate the illegal sales of shares in hundreds of penny stock companies. The organization says he generated over $1 billion in gross proceeds. Of that, $770 million was netted for "Sharp Group" nominee shareholders.

Public company directors are supposed to disclose all the shares they own and have restrictions on their sale. These rules are enforced to prevent manipulative and deceptive trading by company insiders at the expense of the everyday investor.

However, the indictment specifically alleges the group hid large penny stock holdings in portions of less than 5% of any given public company's total outstanding shares to evade certain securities disclosure requirements and brokers' compliance protocols.

The indictment also alleges the group would first promote the companies with marketing materials to increase the share price well beyond the actual value.

For example, Sharp allegedly deposited stock in two Swiss-based trading platforms, Wintercap and Blacklight, to hide the insiders associated with the stock. 

Those platforms' principals have since been charged for various securities violations, including Wintercap's Roger "Rocket" Knox, a financier and promoter. He pleaded guilty in September 2020 to securities fraud that had netted $164 million in ill-gotten gains. Knox went to jail.

Dhillon profited close to $5 million from three companies: SEC

The correlated FBI and SEC indictments narrowed in on three of Dhillon's companies.

"Dhillon's status as a high-level corporate insider enabled him to obtain and/or direct the issuance of millions of shares of each company's stock to his undisclosed associates," the SEC alleges.

In 2011, Dhillon founded a pharmaceuticals company called Vitality Biopharma Inc. Trading in Vitality was halted in November 2018 by the SEC due to its ties to Knox. Dhillion wasn't implicated. According to the SEC indictment, he stepped down as the chairman the following year, but not before the "Sharp Group" allocated $16.6 million in profits—including $2.6 million to Dhillon.

Dhillon also allegedly used a lawyer to conceal ownership of shares for Boston-based Arch Therapeutics and New Jersey-based OncoSec Medical Inc.—two microcap biotechnology companies he was chairman of the board for between March 2011 and April 2020. 

Investigators allege Dhillon and his lawyer made false representations for millions of beneficially owned shares by putting them in two shell companies. They then reportedly had another law firm provide a legal opinion, based on the alleged misrepresentations, to a broker that the shares could be deposited into a brokerage account without trading restrictions.

Upon their sale, the lawyer transferred the cash to suspected beneficiaries of Dhillon, who himself pocketed $2.19 million.

The SEC and FBI investigation only focused on Dhillon's American companies, but what about his Canadian ones?

Dhillon partnered with lawyers, drug trafficker to launch Emerald Health Therapeutics

Dhillon has directed numerous Canadian public companies, including a high-profile Richmond-based marijuana firm called Emerald Health Therapeutics.

But before taking control of the publicly-traded and licensed marijuana producer in April 2015, Dhillon first founded a private investment firm in June 2013 called Emerald Health Sciences (first named Medna Biosciences). 

He did so with his friend and business associate Jim Heppell, a prominent Vancouver lawyer, who has directed over 20 Canadian companies, including many involving Dhillon as a director or shareholder. Heppell also advised the B.C. Securities Commission while working for Catalyst Corporate Finance Lawyers. Heppell worked as president of BC Advantage Funds until 2015, a year before it conducted a wind up.   

The other founders of Emerald Health Sciences were Dhillon's nephew Maheep Dhillon and his cousin Yadvinder Kallu, who was sentenced to nine years in a New York federal prison in 1999 after being caught running drugs and cash in Los Angeles.

Yadvinder Kallu was convicted of heroin trafficking in the United States before founding a marijuana investment company with his cousin Dr. Avtar Dhillon in 2013. Since, Dhillon has been charged with criminal stock offences by the U.S. Department of Justice and Kallu's family property has been raided by police in an alleged gang-related illicit marijuana production investigation. LinkedIn photo

In 1998, Kallu, then 27, was caught moving heroin and cash for a major international drug trafficking ring originating from Pakistan that utilized high-profile South Asian Vancouver gangsters, including leader Ranjit Singh Cheema.

Kallu and his associates Mandeep Dosanjh and David Nair all pleaded guilty to their crimes. Kallu was sentenced to nine years in prison, but it's understood he only spent three years in a New York federal prison. 

Once released from prison, Kallu went back to his family's blueberry farm in Richmond and appears to have established a career in horticulture.

Emerald Health Sciences was to use Dhillon's business acumen and Kallu's horticulture experience to produce and sell medical marijuana via a reverse takeover of Heppell's public shell company Venturi Ventures.

However, without a Health Canada production licence a quicker option unfolded when Heppell's former Catalyst law firm partner David Raffa introduced them to his licensed private medical marijuana producer Thunderbird Biomedical Inc., based in Victoria.

In July 2014, Thunderbird went public in a reverse takeover and in April 2015, Emerald Health Sciences bought 20.16 million shares of it at 21-cents per share, totalling $4.23 million. With 44% of the company's shares, Emerald Health Sciences became the majority stakeholder and controlling entity of the now publicly traded and licensed company.

Heppell, Raffa, Dhillion and his nephew Punit Dhillon took over the public company's board and renamed it Emerald Health Therapeutics. At this point, Dhillon was in charge of the public company (Therapeutics) and the private investment firm (Sciences) that controlled it. 

Emerald Health Sciences then bought more company shares, and by November 2016, it controlled 67.5% of all the stock.

In 2017 the company spent $2.3 million on "professional, director and consulting fees" and $1 million on "investor relations and media," according to its audited annual financial statement. Emerald Health Sciences then began selling its company shares.

From January 2018 to May 2018, corporate filings show it sold six million shares for between $5 and $8 each.

Finally, in December 2019, after the stock tumbled, Emerald Health Sciences sold its last tranche of shares; 9.6 million 57-cent shares for $5.5 million.

Between that time, in May 2019, Punit Dhillon stepped down from the company's board after the company announced there was a security clearance issue with Health Canada.

Despite the company reporting nearly $200 million in losses since its launch in 2015, while under Dhillon's direction, corporate filings show Emerald Health Sciences made an estimated $23 million in net earnings for its investors.

So who invested in Emerald Health Sciences?

Sharp's associates were allocated shares in Dhillon's Canadian cannabis company

Among those investors are several of the individuals accused in the alleged scheme and numerous offshore accounts, including some linked to those defendants, as outlined in a company securities registry submitted in a B.C. Supreme Court affidavit.

Three Swiss holding companies associated with Knox and Sharp — Morris Capital Inc., Trius Holdings Ltd. and Varese Capital Inc. — were allocated hundreds of thousands of shares, according to the registry. This includes transfers of 250,000 and 100,000 shares from Vancouver accountant Shirazali Jumani and 100,000 shares from a Cayman Islands account belonging to Anson Investments Master Fund, which is controlled by hedge fund manager and short-seller Moez Kassam.

Sexton's Nova Trek Capital Inc., Friesen's Ardent Strategies Corp., and Graham Taylor were allocated hundreds of thousands of shares.

The most significant chunk of shares in Sciences was first registered in 2013 when Dhillon distributed millions of founders' shares for 0.00001 cents.

They were distributed as so:

• Avtar Dhillon: 4.28 million shares

• Shirazali Jumani (accountant): 2.66 million shares

• Jim Heppell: 2.25 million shares (split between fsamily members)

• Maheep Dhillon: 1.07 million shares

• Gaetano Morello (scientific advisor): 342,853 shares

• Yadvinder Kallu's mother: 1.39 million, placed in a trust called the Emerald Family Trust

What is not clear is how the sale of shares was distributed among investors upon their sale to the public.

Two days after Dhillon's arrest, he stepped down as chairman of Emerald Health Therapeutics. The company stated it "is not aware of any improper trading in Emerald securities and no allegations have been made against any other person associated with Emerald, including any of its officers or other directors. The Company and its legal counsel are currently considering whether there are any additional steps they can take in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders."

The company declined to speak to Glacier Media specifically about how its shares were held inside Emerald Health Sciences.

In a court affidavit, Dhillon explains how, "in general, EHS does not provide a secondary market for its shares." Instead, the directors "informally connect" prospective buyers and sellers.

Property raided in gang linked drug investigation

The securities registry dated to April 2019 came to light through affidavits filed in B.C. Supreme Court by Yadvinder Kallu's brother Kris Kallu, following a family dispute that saw Kris Kallu estranged.

In those proceedings, Kris Kallu claims 100,000 shares had been allocated to him for cannabis research and horticulture work he performed in the early days of Emerald Health Sciences. Among the last transactions is a 100,000 transfer from Emerald Family Trust (with Yadvinder Kallu as trustee) to his brother.

Both Dhillion and Heppel rejected the notion that Kris Kallu was a founder of the company, despite evidence of his involvement early on that was filed in court.

According to Kris Kallu, Dhillon was aware of Yadvinder Kallu's criminal record and suggested he could get the record expunged to become a director of Sciences. Yadvinder Kallu ended up off the company's list of initial directors, although Dhillon describes him as a "founder."

Things eventually got political at the municipal level when the City of Richmond opposed in court Dhillon's plan to build concrete greenhouses on farmland he owned. In May 2018, a city council committee nearly unanimously voted to call for a moratorium of medical marijuana production on farmland. Dhillon ended up winning the high-profile case. 

While the greenhouses were for Emerald Health Therapeutic's operations on Dhillon's land on No. 9 Road in Richmond, the directors initially sought a consulting agreement on behalf of Emerald Health Sciences to conduct cannabis research on the Kallus' parents' farmland on Sidaway Road in Richmond.

That same property would go on to be raided by RCMP and Delta police in October 2020. 

Police found 11,152 cannabis plants, plus illicit equipment, surveillance cameras, workers and a currency counting machine. In total, police say the operation was worth $18 million annually and was linked back to organized crime, specifically the Hells Angels and the UN Gang.

Only four personal medical marijuana growing licences—for a total of 3,071 plants—were linked to the property, including for three members of the Kallu family,

When fulfilling personal medical growing licences, Health Canada only asks for criminal records dating back just 10 years. Yadvinder Kallu was licensed for over 1,000 personal plants.

Delta Police have yet to lay charges from the investigation and multiple property raids dubbed "Operation Rolling Thunder" and "Project Big Smoke."

Should Kris Kallu be able to finally sell his shares through Emerald Health Sciences, he won't get much. They now trade at 10 cents per share, the same amount they were valued in 2013, when he paid $10,000. 

Dhillon, who remains a director of Emerald Health Sciences, faces up to 25 years in prison for each stock offence charge and up to 20 years in prison for obstructing a proceeding.

According to the United States Sentencing Commission, the average sentence for securities and investment fraud offenders was 50 months in 2019. The average loss for those offences was $2 million.

Dhillon, Heppell and the Kallus did not respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Department of Justice has not been able to locate and serve Sharp to date.

The founder of a high-profile but failed B.C. cannabis company has agreed to plead guilty to three felony securities offences in the United States.

Stock promoter Avtar Singh Dhillon — who already faces civil and criminal trials for his alleged involvement in a massive and complex $1-billion international stock fraud arrangement — was charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Massachusetts in connection to two of his former American companies, including one that he controlled via his Vancouver-based parent investment firm.

Dhillon is a former Vancouver physician who currently resides, under house arrest, in Long Beach, California. He has agreed to plead guilty to one count of wilful failure to disclose stock sales, one count of aiding and abetting the sale of unregistered securities and one count of conspiracy to not disclose touting compensation. He is presumed innocent unless he is proven guilty in a court of law.

Alleged illegal arrangements with lawyer made over $1 million

On Sept. 21, Dhillon signed a plea agreement admitting to all three charges, stating he “does not dispute the accuracy of the facts set forth in the information” of the criminal indictment filed Sept. 30 in a federal court in Boston.

Also pleading guilty to one count of sale of unregistered securities is Dhillon’s Yuba City, California attorney Daniel V. Martinez.

The pair is alleged to have concealed Dhillon’s ownership of Arch Therapeutics Inc. shares in a limited liability company named Walk on Water that Martinez created.

“It is alleged that Dhillon and Martinez then worked together to sell the shares in the open market without a valid exemption under the relevant securities laws and to distribute the approximately $1.34 million in proceeds,” states the U.S. Attorney’s Office indictment.

“The proceeds were distributed primarily to third parties for Dhillon’s benefit, with a small portion distributed to Martinez directly. Dhillon thereafter wilfully failed to report the stock sales to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the investing public, as he was required to do.”

Additionally, Dhillon allegedly concealed compensation for companies (stock touts) hired to publicly promote Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals (EHP), a life sciences company in San Diego directed by Vancouver lawyer Jim Heppell, Dhillon’s long-time business partner.

EHP raised about $60 million in gross investment proceeds through the sale of 10 million shares, between March 2019 and March 2021. About $32.5 million was a result of the concealed paid promotions (newsletters), according to the indictment, which does not state any alleged illicit profits from EHP.

“The principal purpose of the conspiracy was to persuade subscribers of the subscription newsletter to participate in the offering by purchasing EHP shares, thereby providing financing for the benefit of EHP and, in turn, its other direct and indirect shareholders, including Dhillon,” stated the indictment.

Dhillon also allegedly created “sham consulting and service agreements between EHP and intermediary individuals.”

A September 30 SEC complaint alleges EHP had Jonathan William Mikula, a recidivist securities law violator, promote EHP.

Vancouver lawyer reached settlement for Dhillon’s former company

On Oct. 3, Heppell announced EHP had reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission “to resolve the SEC’s investigation of the alleged concealment of a paid promotion of the company’s Regulation A offering in an investment newsletter.”

Heppell stated the company agreed to pay the SEC a $517,955 civil monetary penalty but neither admits nor denies the allegations in the settlement, which is subject to court approval.

The company, wrote Heppell, “promptly undertook significant remedial efforts. These efforts included initiating an internal investigation, terminating certain personnel, terminating relationships with third parties involved in the alleged fraudulent conduct, reorganizing its finance department and adding internal accounting controls.”

Heppell announced “resignations” of EHP’s CEO James DeMesa and CFO Lisa Sanford on July 11.

The settlement was joined with DeMesa, who agreed to a five-year bar from serving as a public company officer and director, and Dhillon, who agreed to a permanent bar from serving as an officer and director of public companies.

Dhillon-founded Vancouver firm controlled EHP

According to Dhillon's indictment, EHP’s former majority shareholder is Emerald Health Sciences, Dhillon’s private Vancouver-based investment firm, now directed by Heppell and Gaetano Morello. Sciences now owns just 48% of EHP shares, as a “significant” shareholder, according to EHP’s 2021 annual report.

“As an officer and significant shareholder of [Sciences], Dhillon enjoyed and exerted significant influence over EHP, including by serving as a board member for a period of time,” noted the indictment.

Shareholders of Sciences, according to court records, included Martinez and several entities connected to an alleged $1-billion fraud case the SEC claims was “masterminded” by offshore shell facilitator and former Vancouver lawyer Fred Sharp — who has defaulted on the case against him since multiple charges were laid in August 2021.

Sciences also had a controlling interest in B.C.-registered public cannabis company Emerald Health Therapeutics, presently directed by Heppell, Dhillon’s nephew Punit Dhillon and Bobby Sukhwinder Rai.  

This year Heppell announced Therapeutics would merge with Skye Bioscience, a California-based public company he and Punit Dhillon also direct. The B.C. Supreme Court approved the shareholder-approved merger in August, months after disaffected shareholders expressed concerns about company ties to Sharp.

Heppell said Therapeutics, a Vancouver-area cannabis firm co-founded by Avtar Dhillon, posted $240 million in losses since 2015, after failed ventures in Richmond and Delta — although trading records show the private parent firm Sciences recorded an estimated $23 million in profits from trading shares of Therapeutics at the height of a promotion in 2017 and 2018.

Dhillon faces years in prison, if found guilty

Willful failure to disclose stock sales has a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail and a $5-million fine, while aiding and abetting the sale of unregistered securities as well as touting compensation nondisclosure conspiracy can each result in five years in jail.

In his plea agreement, Dhillon has forfeited his right to appeal a conviction and prosecutors have agreed to a sentence of incarceration “at the low end of the guidelines sentencing range” plus forfeiture of $1.49 million.

The plea has assigned a “total offence level” of 26 points, based on the serious nature of his alleged crimes and how he “wilfully obstructed or impeded, or attempted to obstruct or impede, the administration of justice.”

The U.S. Sentencing Commission table shows an offence level 26 with no prior criminal convictions (as is the case for Dhillon) could receive a prison term of 63 to 78 months in a federal prison.

Dhillon, 61, was a family physician in B.C. after obtaining a medical degree from the University of British Columbia, but over the past 25 years he had pivoted his career toward promoting mainly health science companies and claimed to have raised more than $1 billion from investors. He also served as past chairman of the Cannabis Canada Council and is a former member of the securities practice advisory committee to the B.C. Securities Commission.

Sharp and Dhillon are jointly accused of criminal conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud. Sharp and Dhillon also face various civil charges from the SEC alongside alleged co-conspirators Paul Sexton of Anmore, Jackson Friesen of Delta, Graham Taylor of Vancouver, and Zhiying Yvonne (Chen) Gasarch of Richmond, Mike Veldhuis of Vancouver and Courtney Kelln of Surrey.

The SEC describes their case as "a sophisticated, multi-year, multi-national attack on the United States financial markets and retail United States investors by foreign and domestic actors." 

The group is accused of hiding their beneficial ownership of millions of insider shares through a web of local and offshore shell companies and brokerage accounts controlled by Sharp.