Royal Manchester Five update: 8 officers charged with estafa
May 25, 2008
The latest development on the Royal Manchester Five (RMF) scam: the National Bureau of Investigation filed charges last week against eight officers and incorporators of the RMF Ponzi scam.
Charged with estafa at the Department of Justice (DOJ) were:
- Cyrus Hao, RMF board chair and president;
- Edwin Rosas, senior vice president;
- Rowena Uy, treasurer-chief finance officer;
- Joseph Bualoy, chief operations officer;
- Joesedev Colina, executive vice president;
- Cyril Alexander Digo, sales agent;
- Estrella Digo, sales agent; and
- Clarence Lao, sales agent
The charges were based on the complaints filed by 27 investors victimized by the Ponzi scam.
12DailyPro update: Investor Web Portal currently closed
May 5, 2008
The Court-appointed receiver for the 12DailyPro (12DP) autosurf investment scam recently announced that the Investor Web Portal, the website where 12DP victims can file and monitor their refund claims, has been shut down for security reasons. Investors, however, can still contact the receiver, Thomas F. Lennon, using email or telephone.
Here’s a copy of the letter sent to investors currently waiting for their 12DP refunds.
12DailyPro update: StormPay to settle $11.7 million
April 5, 2008
Thomas Lennon, Court-appointed Receiver for the 12DailyPro (12DP) autosurf investment program, recently announced that the 12DP receivership estate will receive as much as $11,750,000 from the online payment processor StormPay.
This is in accordance with the Settlement Agreement signed by both parties which also provides that StormPay’s claims against 12DP in excess of $16 million will be waived.
Lennon believes the Settlement Agreement is a better option that pursuing a case against StormPay because it can further delay the distributions of funds back to investors and litigation costs alone could exceed $750,000.
Investor refund coming soon
The $11.7 million funds from the settlement will be added to the more than $5 million funds currently held by the estate. After receivership fees and expenses have been deducted, the remaining balance will be distributed pro-rata to investors who lost in the 12DP program.
Read the article How to file a 12DailyPro refund claim to know if you are eligible for a refund.
(With pics) Wanted: Cyrus Hao of Royal Manchester Five Trading Corp.
March 11, 2008
The manhunt is on for 28-year-old Cyrus Yap Hao, said to be the president of Royal Manchester Five Trading Corp. (RMF), a foreign currency investment company that duped thousands of investors of money amounting to more than P2.1 billion (US$51 million).
Several investors trooped to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) this week to complain that the checks they are holding have been dishonored and that Cyrus Hao, who hails from Pilar, Sorsogon, and Renato San Juan, company vice president for marketing, could not be located. The two are feared to have already fled the Philippines on Tuesday, March 4.
Other officers of RMF — Vice Presidents Joesedev Colina, Edwin Rosas and Joseph Bualoy, and Vice President for Finance Rowena Uy — claim they have also been cheated, but investors say they do not believe them.
RMF is a currency-trading investment program that enticed investors with a guaranteed return of 4-5% every month. Minimum investment amount is P200,000 ($5,000).
Celebrity-investors said to be victims of the scam include professional basketball players and an actor. They are:
- Ginebra Gin Kings player Rafi Reavis (P8.9 million plus $330,485.40)
- Johnny and his wife Mary Ann Abarrientos (P6.9 million, plus another P2.5 million from Johnny)
- Mark Macapagal (P2.5 million)
- former Purefoods Hotdogs coach Eric Altamirano and wife Marissa (P1.2 million and P0.889 million, respectively)
- Alaska cager Edward Juinio (P7.2 million)
- actor Rustom Padilla ($47,000)
Did you lose money in FrancSwiss?
July 8, 2007
Earlier last week, a news reporter from a major TV channel emailed Pinoy Money Talk and asked if we can recommend people who would be willing to sit for an interview to talk about their losses in the online investment program FrancSwiss.
Our reply, at that time, was that it might be difficult to find those people because FrancSwiss is technically still not a scam because it has not stopped paying yet. Our opinion was that investors would not badmouth a program they think has not done anything wrong.
Fast forward several days later, and FrancSwiss was declared a Ponzi and a scam-waiting-to-unfold by the Philippine SEC, BSP, and media channels. No sooner than that, all FrancSwiss websites went down, the operators were nowhere to be found, and no investor received payment in the last few days.
FrancSwiss being officially declared a scam is now starting to sink in to most people. Investors have started telling their own FrancSwiss stories — including stories of financial losses, of distrust in the people who referred them to the program, and of deception, hopelessness, and confusion.
Here are some of these stories, taken from the Comments section of the article Is FrancSwiss a scam? and the HYIP: FrancSwiss discussion thread. True or not, these stories are surely something FrancSwiss investors can relate to.
Read on.
