Registration of Bill Ford Trading revoked
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revoked the corporate registration papers of Bill Ford VIP Trading Inc. for engaging in unauthorized investment activities using the sale of pigs as front for its Ponzi scheme.
The agency said Bill Ford Trading’s main strategy is to earn from the recruitment of new members or investors, with the piggery business used as a front for its scheme.
Its investment scheme involved the sale of pigs for P2,500 each, with the promise of returning the investment that would then amount to P4,375 three months later.
An investor who buys 5 pigs worth P12,500 is guaranteed to get P21,875 by the end of 3 months, while someone who invests in 40 pigs worth P100,000 will get a gross profit of P175,000 after the same period.
Bill Ford Trading’s scheme involved securities, particularly an investment contract, whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits primarily from the efforts of others, according to the SEC’S Enforcement and Investor Protection Department.
In an order issued April 14, the SEC found that the group was headed by a certain Billy Ford Delos Santos Andrada and have engaged in investment-taking activities by selling or offering securities to the public without the necessary secondary license from the SEC.
The agency has warned the public against investing in Bill Ford Trading as early as January 23, 2020 through an advisory, which the company neither responded to nor refuted.
The SEC also issued a show cause order against Bill Ford Trading on February 10, directing the company to explain why its corporate registration should not be revoked.
“Necessarily, this scheme is unsustainable, as it must rely on a continuous inflow of new investors in order to make payouts to earlier investors,” the order read.
“To exacerbate matters, the scheme being offered by Billford Trading Company/bill Ford VIP Trading Inc. is clearly in the nature of Ponzi scheme, where the profits or payouts shall be taken from incoming investors or additional pay-ins of existing members-investors considering that it does not have any underlying legitimate business from where it could source its promised return on investments to its investors.”
Bill Ford Trading committed another instance of fraud when three of its incorporators—trixie Faith M. Pena, Andrew James T. Balero and Jethro John G. Reyes—provided wrong addresses in the company’s Articles of Incorporation.
“Wherefore, for violation of Section 44 of the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines [Republic Act 11232) in relation to Sections 8.1, 28.1 and 26.1 of the Securities Regulation Code, P.D. 902-A and Section 179 (j) of the RCCP, the Certificate of Incorporation and the registration of Bill Ford VIP Trading Inc. as a corporation, is hereby revoked,” the SEC said.