P.

BACKGROUND

An information filed February 5, 2009, charged defendant with two counts of grand theft in violation of Penal Code sections 484 through 487, subdivision (a). An indictment filed November 10, 2009, further charged one count of selling an unqualified security (Corp. Code, §§ 25110-25440, subd. (a)), two counts of making untrue statements and material omissions in connection with an offer to sell a security (Corp. Code, §§ 25401-25540, subd. (b)), and one count of using a device, scheme, and artifice to defraud another in the sale of a security (Corp. Code, § 25441). Prior to trial the prosecutor sought and obtained dismissal of the fraudulent devices charge (count four of the indictment) on the ground that it was going to be pursued by Alameda County authorities. The parties agreed to consolidate the remaining charges for trial and to incorporate them, for purposes of instructing the jury, in a single consolidated “information.” The gist of the prosecutor’s case was that defendant obtained funds from two couples named Piekarski and Hernandez (the purchasers) by taking money from them in exchange for high-interest promissory notes payable by a company known as BluQuest,…