DAVAO CITY-— The Regional Trial Court Branch 2 of Tagum City sentenced the two officials of the defunct Rigen Wellness Product Marketing to life imprisonment for syndicated estafa.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-Davao on Monday reported that the RTC Branch 2 in Tagum City found Rico John Colorines Garcia and King Paul Bryan Auditor, chief executive officer and auditor of Rigen Marketing guilty on two cases of syndicated estafa. The resolution was handed down on April 11 and May 2 respectively.
The case developed after two complainants filed charges against Garcia and Auditor for enticing them to invest in cryptocurrency and foreign exchange trading (ponzi scheme) offering 400 percent return of their money in a month.
“[T]he promised high-yielding venture was unsustainable, as Rigen Marketing was not really engaged in any legitimate business,” the decision read.
Aside from life imprisonment in both cases, Garcia and Auditor were ordered to actual damages totaling PHP2 million and moral damages amounting to PHP120,000 with an interest of 6 percent per annum.
“The totality of the testimonies of the witnesses, documentary evidence on record, and findings of the SEC all point to both accused Garcia and Auditor as the perpetrators of a grand scheme to defraud investors of their investments in their company,” the decision stressed.
In its ruling, the court affirmed that “where one states that the future profits or income of an enterprise shall be a certain sum, but he actually knows there will be none, the statements constitute an actionable fraud where the hearer believes him and relies on the statement to his injury.”
The court also noted that Rigen Marketing employed fraud when Garcia, Auditor, and its officers pretended to have the authority to solicit investments from the public when it did not have such authority.
Since 2018 investment scams in Davao region and other parts of Mindanao became massive carrying different names and different operators because the offer was enticing, many even went on selling properties while others loaned and pawned valuable possessions and properties to invest in the hope of getting 400percent profit.
The SEC also warned the prospective investors of Rigen Marketing through an advisory posted on March 2019 through its website but still many ignored the warning.
Alarmed by the waves of people putting money into “Ponzi Scheme” investment, former President Rodrigo Duterte on June 11, 2019 ordered the law enforcement agencies to go after the operators and conduct raids which resulted to closures of many investment companies.
On June 11, 2019, the SEC subsequently issued a cease and desist directing the group to stop engaging in investment solicitation activities unless it secures the necessary licenses from them.
Garcia and Auditor have been jailed but their co-accused Rosenda Colorines Garcia, Christine Palijo, Romen Samuel Wabina, and Jemeilyn Tacay remain at-large.
Life imprisonment, has an indefinite duration, has no specific details on pardon, and does not come with compulsory accessory penalties. –Editha Z. Caduaya with report from PNA
