DOJ indicts Seatoo, execs for illegal investment solicitation
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicated two companies and their executives for allegedly soliciting unlicensed investments from the public through a sham e-commerce platform, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The corporate watchdog said on Friday that state prosecutors found prima facie evidence to charge New Seataoo Corp. and Seataoo Information Technology OPC for violating the Securities Regulation Code.
Likewise, the DOJ recommended filing 54 counts of violation of Section 26 of the SRC that prohibits the use of lies, deceit and fraud to sell securities.
Also indicted were New Seataoo CEO Widiana Chen, project manager Dylan Lim and directors Anna Rose Jangao Tero, Jonathan Tuazon Garcia, Danny Tuazon Sudaria, Lew Yean Yee and Seow Kai Sheng.
Seataoo OPC’s single stockholder, Jayson Corono Clidoro, was also indicted.Based on its Oct. 22 resolution, prosecutors upheld the SEC’s findings in its complaint filed in January that Seatoo group offered investment contracts through its e-commerce platform without securing the necessary secondary license.
The SEC earlier said that the companies had used YouTube and Facebook to operate their scheme, with investors shelling out as much as P2.3 million due to the promise of “guaranteed returns” of 7 to 12 percent without doing any genuine selling activity.
This thus resembled an illegal Ponzi scheme wherein profits provided to investors were derived from contributions given by new participants rather than actual business activities.
“Respondents misrepresented their companies as a legitimate e-commerce platform when, in truth, there was no inventory, no supplier arrangements and no real product movement,” the DOJ said.
“The system merely simulated transactions and internally rotated funds, creating the false appearance of a functioning business. The totality of these acts constitutes a deliberate and systematic scheme to defraud the public,” it added.
