PAGADIAN CITY, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR — The Nationwide Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) arrested two suspects allegedly concerned in a Ponzi-scheme funding right here.
Joey Moran, chief of the NBI Pagadian district workplace, mentioned operatives entrapped Bernadeth Albaracin and John Mark Pineda on Wednesday, July 3, after the 2 met and sealed a take care of a poseur investor in a espresso store in Sta. Lucia district right here.
Each the NBI and the SEC launched the operation following the complaints earlier filed by 14 traders for the corporate’s failure to launch the promised 35 to 50 p.c curiosity of their investments and the promised freebies that included iPhones, a single motorbike and a automotive, in line with NBI Agent Leonardo Carpizo. This prompted the NBI to develop the case.
“It turned out that these folks [operators] weren’t licensed to solicit funding from the general public. That’s the reason we coordinated with the SEC and carried out the operation,” Moran mentioned.
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He mentioned the group first used the corporate identify Skyline Buying and selling for the operation, then renamed it to Hybrid Buying and selling and later Neon Advertising, with the identical folks working.
The operators used the social media’s Messenger software to lure traders, then later both set a face-to-face assembly for the switch of money investments or conduct the enterprise transaction on-line, in line with the NBI.
Moran mentioned investments vary from P200,000 to one million pesos. “The quantity varies,” he mentioned. “They simply obtain them and supply pursuits of 35 to 50 p.c and choices for locked-in investments of 15 days or 30 days.”
For locked-in investments, operators entice traders with freebies like a single motorbike, a automotive or smartphones, relying on the speed of investments and the selection of the traders.
Moran anticipated extra traders to file complaints towards the corporate for the reason that operation began in April this 12 months.
He mentioned all of the 14 complainants who sought the assistance of the NBI got here from Zamboanga del Sur however refused to establish them for safety causes. “We’re nonetheless accounting for all of the collected investments within the Pagadian operation,” he mentioned.
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Lawyer Rona Santos, authorized counsel of the SEC extension workplace based mostly in Zamboanga Metropolis, mentioned they’d issued an advisory following their investigation of the the operations of Skyline Crypto and Dry Items Buying and selling which began in April this 12 months.
“(The corporate) shouldn’t be licensed to solicit investments from the SEC and has dedicated a felony offense. What Skyline Buying and selling, which in a while grew to become Neon Advertising, is doing (constitutes) a Ponzi-scheme,” she mentioned. “The operation shouldn’t be backed up by any reliable enterprise and is certain to break down, she mentioned.
Santos additionally mentioned one of many operators of the Neon Advertising right here recognized as John Paul Lopez was among the many recognized operators of the Silver Lion Livestock Buying and selling raided by the NBI and SEC in Zamboanga Metropolis in 2022.
The Pagadian Metropolis operation has the identical modus operandi as that in Zamboanga Metropolis, Santos mentioned. “It is a felony offense and a violation of the Securities Regulation Code,” she mentioned.
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Carpizo confirmed that traders had but to withdraw pursuits from their money investments. The corporate had no bodily workplace in Pagadian Metropolis and solely carried out on-line transactions and later would prepare how the traders deposit their investments, both face-to-face or by on-line fund switch,” Carpizo mentioned.
Carpizo additionally mentioned that Pineda, one of many arrested suspects, was renting a room at an area inn right here whereas Albaracin was a resident.
