Six persons behind the GDM Finance SARL will be convicted for operating an investment scam, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, reported on Thursday.

In a joint decision dated 17 April, the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 158 found Anita E. Armada, Milany P. Cabrera, Josephine D. Maranan, Nanette D. Tongco, Gerald L. Samson, and Jacinto Lucio P. De Catalina guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Sections 8 and 26 of Republic Act 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code or SRC.

The convicted individuals were sentenced to pay a total fine of P100,000 each plus imprisonment.

This, according to the industry watchdog, marked the 22nd conviction for violations of the country's securities law.

The case stemmed from information received by the SEC Enforcement and Investor Protection Department or EIPD in July 2018, alleging that GDM had conducted a seminar in a mall where speakers enticed the audience to invest in GDM for a weekly return of at least 2.5 percent.

After conducting an on-site field investigation, the EIPD confirmed that GDM indeed engaged in investment-taking activities.

Scam via socmed

The investigation also uncovered that GDM had a Facebook account where it advertised that it could pay dividends to shareholders and provide a steady return on investment received.

"Additionally, the prosecution was able to establish that despite the securities being unregistered, such fact was not made known by the individual accused to its prospective investors who attended the orientation seminar."

Thus, they are liable under section 26.2 of the SRC for omitting a material fact that misleads the public into believing that the securities they offer are registered," the court order read.

Section 8 of the SRC explicitly prohibits the sale or distribution of securities without first being registered with the SEC.

Likewise, Section 26 makes it unlawful for individuals to employ fraud, deceit, and omission to garner investments from the public.

GDM had not registered any securities with the Commission as required under the SRC.

Neither had it secured a license to issue mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and proprietary or non-proprietary shares or membership certificates and timeshares.

To date, the SEC has secured the conviction of 33 individuals in 22 cases meted by the courts with a total imprisonment of 712 years and an aggregate fine of P28.4 million.