SEC slams officials with Ploutos links

By LITO RULONA
Correspondent .

THE director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the region has warned against the links of public officials to an alleged online Ponzi scheme that caught the attention of the city council’s trade and commerce committee.

In a face-off during the committee’s meeting at the city council on Friday, SEC regional director Renato Egypto took swipes at past and present ranking officials, including “men in uniform,” for their involvement in the Freedom Trade Club which is behind the so-called Ploutos Coin scheme.

Egypto said people in government should have a sense of propriety.

He said this while city elections officer Ramil Acol served as one of FTC founder Mark Freeman’s legal advisers during the committee meeting.

The same day, city hall, through its legal office, issued a public warning against investing in FTC after the SEC put Freeman and his group on its watch list.

Lawyer Lorela Escobero of the City Legal Office said Freeman has until September to return all the investments or else, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) would deal with him.

Escobero said that aside from the NBI and SEC, the trade department, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas should step in.

According to SEC, FTC has been conducting training and seminars to promote the cryptocurrency Ploutos Coin, marketed as an investment vehicle.

Another city hall lawyer Antonio Resma Jr. said the transactions of FTC are considered illegal.

Resma told the trade and commerce committee chaired by Councilor George Goking that FTC has no permit to do business in Cagayan de Oro.

Freeman, who faced Goking’s committee on Friday, said FTC would pay out investors but he cannot assure them that their money would be returned with the promised interest rate.

“Ride on ra man gud kining mga investors sa akoa,” he said.

Freeman told the committee that he would comply with the documentary requirements of the SEC and Department of Trade and Industry.

Freeman’s FTC, which was behind the July 8 grand launch of the Ploutos Coin in the city, has been included in SEC’s list of five online investment firms that have no permits to operate. As such, these firms are “not authorized to solicit investments from the public.”

The SEC list includes Crypto Expert Inc., Mutual Funds and Trading Expert, Paysbook E-Commerce System Co. Ltd. (Indigen Coins), Purewealth EBC Corp. (Purepound), Yeheey Itraffic System Inc., and Freeman’s FTC.

SEC said these unauthorized firms entice the public to invest by promising unreasonably high returns on investment of 25-percent a week.

“They claim that the money solicited from investors is used to fund the trading activities of the corporation. After profits are earned, payouts are then distributed to all the investors on a weekly basis,” it said.

The Commission warned that those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of these groups are facing up to P5 million in fines or 21 years of imprisonment.

Egypto expressed disgust during the committee meeting because of the alleged involvement of people in government in Freeman’s FTC.

“Dali ra man kini kung gusto ang FTC o si Freeman mo-comply. Why won’t they come to the office to comply and disclose everything. Dili na nato lipat-lipaton ang katawhan. Unya nagagamit pa sila og mga kanhi og karon nga mga highanking public officials, including men in uniform, [who are] issuing statements against our office. Gamay lang nga delicadeza,” Egypto said.

He said this while city elections officer Acol sat beside Freeman. Another Freeman lawyer who sat beside the FTC founder was Enrique Malicay.

The elections officer said he came to provide advice to Freeman, his friend.

Egypto said, “As a regulator, we (SEC) already issued our advisory based on our initial findings. If they claim that they feel they are right, they can always dispute but they have to submit their registration documents, track record, and everything. Dili kini overnight. And so, I am telling them to stop — cease and desist from soliciting investments from the public because our advisory stands.”

City hall lawyers said they were looking into three violations committed by Freeman: soliciting and accepting money for Forex trading, selling cryptocurrency without a license and permits, and failure to report its income to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).