SEC Facebook

This Advisory is prompted by information received by the Commission
that
individuals or group of persons representing
a company named
Financial.Org
are
soliciting investments from the investing public. According to a Reuters Article at
http://www.reuters.com/article/us
–
britain
–
investment
–
financial
–
org
–
excl/exclusive
–
unregulated
–
british
–
firm
–
draws
–
asian
–
investors
–
idUSKBN1EZ1ME
,
Financial.Org
is
a UK
company that describes itself
as an education business,
sponsors a Formula One team and
ma
nages hundreds of thousands of dollars for Asian investors
.
However, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) placed
Financial
.
Org
in its
list of unregulated persons who, may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or
authorized by MAS. Similarly,
in its website, the Securities Commission Malaysia included
Financial.Org
in the list of those that are not authorized nor approved under the securities
laws to deal in securities, trade in futures contract, advise on corporate finance, provide
investment
advice, financial planning and/or fund management services related to
securities or futures.
The public is hereby advised
that
Financial.Org
is not
registered with the SEC
as a
corporation or partnership and is not authorized to solicit investments from
the public
in
the Philippines
, not having secured prior registration and/or license to solicit investment
as prescribed under Section 8 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).
The Commission reiterates its warning that t
hose who act as salesmen, brokers,
dealers or agents of
entities without authority to solicit investments,
in selling or
convincing people to invest in the investment scheme being offered by
said entities
including solicitations or recruitment through
various forms of media such as but not
limited to
the internet
such as social media
ma
y
be prosecuted and held criminally liable
under Section 28 of the Securities Regulation Code and penalized with a maximum fine of
Five Million pesos (P5,000,000.00) or imprisonment of Twenty One (21) years o
r both
pursuant to Section 73 of the SRC.
Accordingly, those who invite or recruit other people to join or invest in this venture
or offer investment contracts or securities to the public may be held criminally liable or
accordingly sanctioned or penalized
in accordance with the Supreme Court decision in the
case of SEC vs. Oudine Santos (G.R. No. 195542, March 19, 2014).
In view thereof, the public is hereby advised to exercise prudence before investing
in these kinds of activities and to take the necessar
y precaution in dealing with
Financial.Org
or its
representatives.
Furthermore, the names of all those involved will be reported to the Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR) so that the appropriate penalties and/or taxes be correspondin
gly
assessed.
Should you have any information regarding the operation of the subject entity
in the
Philippines
, please call the Enforcement and Investor Protection Depar
tment at telephone
number
818
–
6047.
For the guidance of the public