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by Mike Caswell

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have requested a three-year jail term for Jonathan Mikula, an analyst charged for a scheme that promoted a Vancouver company as "Curing Incurable Diseases and Giving Us Over 4,900% Potential Gains." They say that Mr. Mikula "profited handsomely and was showered with lavish meals" for helping to run a sophisticated touting operation. That operation helped boost Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company associated with Vancouver's Avtar Dhillon.

The proposed sentence is contained in a memorandum that prosecutors filed on Tuesday, Oct. 7, in federal court in California. They are seeking a 37-month jail term, one year of supervised release and a $20,000 fine. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) They are also asking for restitution in a to-be-determined amount.

In seeking the jail term, prosecutors say that Mr. Mikula, a resident of Georgia, wrote and published misleading promotional pieces for investors, telling them that the pieces were not paid material. In reality, Mr. Mikula received payments in the form of sham consulting agreements and through other "sophisticated means" to disguise the payments, prosecutors claim. In this way, Mr. Mikula and his associates received $4.2-million in direct payments, according to the government. "In addition to direct compensation, defendant received undisclosed compensation in the form of lavish meals, beverages, and entertainment at exclusive restaurants and clubs," the memorandum reads.

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