MANILA – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is shuttering a Baguio City-based property company, which it alleged was operating an investment scam that affected over 700 victims.
In a statement on Wednesday, the corporate watchdog announced the issuance of a “permanent” cease and desist order against Casa Infini Builders and Realty Co. Ltd., Casa Infini Realty Management Co. Ltd., and its affiliated entities.
This affirms the June 8 order for the group to shutter its operations after it was found to be “actively selling securities, in the form of investment contracts, without the proper secondary license from the SEC”.
“Casa Infini enticed the public to invest in their alleged real estate projects in Baguio City either as a buyer-investor or partner financier,” the SEC said.
“Investors were promised a guaranteed income of more than P33,000 per month for 20 months, with the company assuring the public that the investments collected were supposedly financing the real estate properties that it owned, managed, and operated,” it added.
The SEC previously filed charges against the company’s employees and representatives after the firm was caught accepting investments during its own event in a Baguio City hotel.
Meanwhile, the SEC said Casa Infini also attempted to appeal its closure order.
“In its motion to lift the CDO, Casa Infini argued that the solicitation from investors is not a scam since its project was supported by a license issued by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development,” the SEC said.
“The group also denied being a Ponzi scheme, noting that the referral fee is paid and incurred not by the investments of new partners but by CI Builders itself because of the acknowledged benefit that the program will have for the business,” it added.
Section 8 of Republic Act No. 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code (SRC), expressly prohibits the sale or offer to sell and/or distribute of securities without the proper secondary license from the regulator, the SEC noted.
“Under the foregoing legal precepts and parameters, an investment contract is considered to exist once it is determined/shown that the proponent is offering to the purchasers an opportunity to contribute money and to share in the profits of the operations,” the SEC noted in the statement.
“Wherefore, premises considered, the Verified Motion to Lift [the cease and desist order] filed by [Casa Infini] is hereby denied for lack of merit. The cease and desist order dated 8 June 2023 is hereby made permanent,” it added.
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The article was originally published in Inquirer and written by Miguel R. Camus.
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