The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday it revoked the licenses of Koen Solutions OPC and Phil Maritime and Ocean Institute of Technology Inc. for allegedly soliciting investments from the public without prior registration.
It said it issued separate orders dated Nov. 28 to revoke the corporate registration of Koen Solutions and PMOITC for alleged violation of Section 44 of the Revised Corporation Code.
It said the investment schemes of PMOIT and Koen Solutions involved the sale and offer of securities to the public in the form of investment contracts, which require prior registration with the corporate regulator.
The SEC said that based on its investigation, Koen Solutions had been inviting the public to invest in its app for a guaranteed daily income of 2.5 percent to 3 percent, or monthly income of 75 percent to 90 percent, depending on the “financial trading robots” that they choose to invest in.
The robots supposedly search for and trade cryptocurrencies that could bring stable profits to investors.
The SEC in September issued an advisory against Koen Solutions, directing the group to stop soliciting investments from the public until it had secured the necessary license to do so.
It said the group continued to sell and offer investments to the public, claiming on social media that it submitted the necessary documents for the application of a secondary license to the SEC.
“Considering that nowhere is it stated in its primary purpose that Koen Solutions OPC is authorized the engaged in the selling or offering for sale of securities to the public, the activity of Koen Solutions OPC, of selling, or offering for sale of investments is considered an ultra vires act, and therefore, constitutes serious misrepresentation,” the order read.
The SEC said it also found PMOITC inviting the public to invest at least P350,000, in exchange for a 40-percent share in the school’s annual income potentially amounting to P206,000, or a quarterly income of at least P51,000. The school also promised a return on investment within a period of two years.
Profits will supposedly come from the school’s revenues, earnings from its training center, dormitory revenues and earnings from the school’s commercial center.
“It would appear that the promised profits and returns would be derived from the investments of PMOIT’s new member/investors. Necessarily, this scheme is unsustainable, as it must rely on a continuous inflow of new investors in order to make payouts to earlier investors, all the more made glaring considering that it has no actual operations yet to speak of,” the SEC said.
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