SEC shuts down 3 groups’ investment schemes
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered three groups to stop soliciting investments from the public after finding they were offering unregistered securities.
In separate cease and desist orders, the SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection Department directed G’s Kicks Billard Hall, NShop/M&N Online Shop/NFunds and AI Quest Trading to immediately halt their investment-taking activities.
The orders also cover their officers, representatives, dealers and other individuals acting on their behalf.
Named in the orders were Gabriel Fernandez Vasallo for G’s Kicks, Nathalie Jean Bersamina for NShop and Erica Aguilar for AI Quest.
The SEC likewise ordered the groups to take down their internet presence related to the investment schemes.
They were also prohibited from conducting transactions involving funds held in their depository banks.
The groups may not transfer, dispose of or convey assets and properties under their control to preserve these for investors.
According to the corporate regulator, none of the three groups is registered as a corporation or partnership. They also lack the licenses required to sell, offer or deal in securities.
G’s Kicks allegedly used social media to entice the public with “risk-free” or guaranteed returns of 8 percent to 10 percent within 30 days. It also promoted quick withdrawals of earnings.
Meanwhile, NShop and its related entities continued soliciting investments even after the SEC issued an advisory against their operations in June.
Through Bersamina, the entities invited the public to place funds in exchange for substantial returns supposedly generated from their business activities.
The SEC also found Bersamina had conducted lending activities through entities that were not registered as lending companies. This violated Republic Act No. 9474, or the Lending Regulation Act of 2007.
AI Quest, for its part, invited investors to register on its website and place money in artificial intelligence-assisted stock trading.
