The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues its crackdown against firm’s illegally soliciting investments from the public and operating Ponzi schemes to defraud Filipinos of hard-earned money during these hard times.
In various orders issued recently, the corporate watchdog has issued warnings, stop orders, revocation of corporate franchises, and even sought the arrest of people who continue to offer unrealistically high returns to solicit investments without the necessary licenses.
The has Enforcement and Investor Protection Department (EIPD) cancelled the corporate registrations of Koen Solutions OPC and Phil. Maritime and Ocean Institute of Technology, Inc. for continuing to illegally soliciting investments from the public.
It has also ordered Sophia Francisco Holding OPC and BeastnessAllDay Corporation to stop illegally soliciting investments from the publicwhile warning the public to stop, or not to invest, in any scheme being offered by OTCJKE, OTC Automated Trading Platform, and JKE International Limited.
Through the SEC’s findings, the Justice Department and National Bureau of Investigation has filed criminal charges for unauthorized solicitation of investments from the public against Silverlion Livestock Trading Corp. and its officers.
The SEC revoked the registration of Koen Solutions as a one person corporation (OPC) for violation of the Revised Corporation Code (RCC) and the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).
Investigations by the EIPD show that Koen Solutions has been inviting the public to invest in its app for a guaranteed daily income of 2.5 percent to 3 percent, or monthly income of 75 percent to 90 percent, depending on the “financial trading robots” that they choose to invest in.
Citing a Supreme Court ruling, the EIPD noted that the sale or offer of securities without the requisite license necessarily operates as a fraud on investors.
It added that, “The investment scheme appears to have the characteristics of a ‘Ponzi Scheme’ which is defined as an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by the new investors.”
The SEC also revoked the certificate of incorporation of Phil Maritime Ocean Institute of Technology (PMOIT) for violation of the RCC and SRC.
PMOIT was found to be inviting the public to invest at least P350,000, in exchange for a 40 percent share in the school’s annual income potentially amounting to P206,000, or a quarterly income of at least P51,000. The school also promised a return on investment within a period of two years.
“It would appear that the promised profits and returns would be derived from the investments of ’s new member/investors. Necessarily, this scheme is unsustainable, as it must rely on a continuous inflow of new investors in order to make payouts to earlier investors, all the more made glaring considering that it has no actual operations yet to speak of,” the EIPD said.
Meanwhile, the SEC ordered Sophia Francisco Holding OPC and BeastnessAllDay Corporation to stop soliciting investments from the public without a license.
The Sophia Francisco Group offered investments worth as low as P500 with guaranteed earnings of up to 3 percent daily for 20 days. It also gave a 5 percent referral fee to those who can invite new investors into the group.
The EIPD found BeastnessAllDay to be promising 10 percent to 12 percent monthly returns after a five-month period to investors who invest P50,000 into the group.
“The products and business are however all a sham, and are utilized to entice the public to part with their hard-earned money,” the EIPD said.
On the other hand, the SEC warned against investing with OTCJKE/ OTC AUTOMATED TRADING PLATFORM/ JKE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED as it has to license to solicit investments.
The group presents itself as a high-frequency trading encryption platform where investors can earn 3 percent to 8 percent daily earnings withdrawable anytime through a crypto wallet or a G-cash account.
“It also states that it is a cryptocurrency subsidiary of the British JKE group and is one of the companies that supports the Ukraine Crisis,” the corporate watchdog said.
Criminal charges for unauthorized solicitation of investments from the public have been filed against Silverlion and its officers.
“ falsely represented to the public that it is engaged in the business of trading gold and sale of processed meats, beauty products and other products which are in demand in the market to generate profits to be used as payment for the return of capital to investors together with its high return of interest,” the DOJ resolution read.