SEC Facebook

This Advisory is prompted by numerous reports and information collated by the
Commission, concerning individuals or group of persons enticing the public via Facebook
application to invest in
PRAETORIAN GROUP INTERNATIONAL TRADING Inc.
Based on its
Certificate of I
ncorporation,
PRAETORIAN GROUP
INTERNATIONAL TRADING Inc.
(
PGI
for brevity)
was registered on December 9, 2020.
As shown above and displayed online by its followers,
PGI
is engaged in the business of
selling, distributing, mark
eting, import and export at wholesale and retail as may be
permitted by law all kinds of commodities, wares and merchandise of every kind and
description. They also offer cryptocurrency trading and a variety of health products.
RV Palafox, a Filipino, mu
lti
–
level marketer, and a registered nurse by profession
is the founder and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
PGI/Praetorian Global
Network
. On September 1, 2021 due to client withdrawal issues
,
Palafox claims to have
stepped down and Helen L. Graham
took over PGI’s
he
lm. PGI’s Facebook page is
managed by three persons, namely: Claire Wilkinson, Bashir Bala Saulawa and a third
person who uses
PGI Global Network
as his account name. PGI’s main office is allegedly
located at London, United Kingdom of Great Britain with other corporate offices situated
at USA, Philippines, Singapore, Estonia, Nigeria and South Africa.
As posted in its
Facebook page the
re are several ways to join and invest with
PGI
.
First
,
you must attend the scheduled Z
oom meeting;
Second
, contact the person who
invited you;
Third
, get a referral link;
Fourth
Select a package and purchase the amount
that suits your budget; and
Fifth
; share the opportunity and teach your members to do the
same.
Once registered, there are six ways to earn in
PGI
. To wit: (1)
Passive income
of
0.5% to 3.0% daily or a 15% to 90% return monthly or 1.080% annually
; (2)
Direct
Referral
; (3)
Binary Bonus
:
(4)
Boost up Bonus
; (5)
Renewal Bonus
and (6)
Career
plan
. The investment contract shall expire within 365 days or upon achievement of 200%
profit whichever comes first, with an option for renewal. To earn more, an investor must
upgrade his package. In con
nection to the aforementioned earnings PGI charges an
annual software fee in the amount of $19 US dollars.
As seen above, the collective acts of
PGI
of both offering and inviting the public
through social media t
o invest in their enterprise amounts to offering securities in the form
of
investment contract
s
,
as
investors need not exert any effort other than to invest or place
money in their scheme in order to earn profit.
An
i
nvestment contract exists when there i
s an investment or placement of money
in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the
efforts of others which is glaring in PGI’s
plan of action
.
Although registered with the Commission
as a corporation, such regis
tration only
grants
PGI
a
juridical personality
. However,
PGI
OPERATES WITHOUT THE
NECESSARY LICENSE AND/OR AUTHORITY
to solicit, accept or take
investments/placements from the public nor to issue investment contracts and other forms
of securities defined
under Section 3 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC)
.
Similarly,
PGI
is not a registered Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) with the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and does not have a corresponding Certificate of Authority
as a Money Service Business
as required under Circular No. 1108, series of 2021 or the
Guidelines for Virtual Asset Service Providers.
Furthermore, the scheme employed by
PRAETORIAN GROUP INTERNATIONAL TRADING
clearly shows indication of a possible
“Ponzi Scheme”
where
monies from new investors are used in paying
“fake profits” to
prior investors
and is designed mainly to favor its top recruiters and prior risk takers and
is detrimental to subsequent members in case of scarcity of new investors.
Hence, the
public is advised
NOT TO INVEST
or
STOP INVESTING
in any
scheme offered by
PGI
or such other entit
ies engaged in smart contracts
and
virtual asset
trading
that are not registered with the Commission and the BSP.
The public is again reminded that investing in such an unregulated entity lacks
investor prot
ection because it is not covered by prudential and market conduct
requirements applicable to licensed and authorized operations.
Accordingly, the Commission warns all unscrupulous individuals and/or entities
that
strict penalties are imposed for v
iolation
s of the
Securities Regulation Code,
the Revised Corporation Code, and such other rules and regulations enforced by
the Commission
.
Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of
such unauthorized
entities like the operators of the FB Page of
PG
I
in selling or convincing people to invest
in their investment scheme offered including solicitations and recruitment through the
internet may likewise be criminally prosecuted and penalized with a
maximum fine of
Five Million pesos (P5,000,000.00) or a p
enalty of Twenty
–
one (21) years of
imprisonment or both pursuant to Sections 28 and 73 of the SRC
.
In the same manner, those who invite or recruit others to join or invest in such
venture or offer investment contracts or securities to the public similar
to
PRAETORIAN GROUP INTERNATIONAL TRADING
and the
operators of
PRAETORIAN GROUP INTERNATIONAL TRADING
may incur criminally liability, or otherwise be sanctioned or penalized
accordingly as held by the Supreme Court in the case of
SEC vs. Oudine Santos
(G.R.
No. 195542, 19 March 2014).
The names of all those involved will
also be reported to the Bureau of Internal
Revenue (BIR) so that the appropriate penalties and/or taxes be assessed
correspondingly.
Should you have any information regarding any investment solicitation activity by
any individual or group of individuals r
epresenting
PRAETORIAN GROUP INTERNATIONAL TRADING
, please send your report to the
EIPD at epd@sec.gov.ph.
For the guidance of the public.
Pasay City, 16 September 2021