The noose is slowly tightening around the neck of Maria Francesca “Mica” Tan, the CEO of MFT Group of Companies, who is facing charges for illegal investment solicitation and syndicated swindling or “estafa.”
At the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued last week a red notice against her, which authorizes law enforcement authorities in any part of the world where she may be found to arrest her and bring her back to the Philippines to answer those charges.
Without prior SEC authority, her company is accused of soliciting investments that promised returns of 12 percent to 18 percent, an investment strategy akin to a Ponzi scheme, where returns are paid using funds collected from new investors rather than from legitimate business operations.
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The scheme eventually collapses when new funds stop coming and the “unpaid” investors are left holding the proverbial empty bag.FEATURED STORIES
