SEC imposes Casa Infini ban

BAGUIO CITY — The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has made permanent the cease and desist order, or CDO, against Baguio City-based Casa Infini Builders and Casa Infini Realty Management Co. Ltd and its affiliated entities.

In a recent resolution, the SEC en banc affirmed its earlier issuance of the CDO that against Casa Infini, effectively denying the company's motion to lift the order.

Earlier, on 8 June 2023, the SEC en banc issued the CDO against Casa Infini, after the SEC Enforcement and Investor Protection Department found the company and its officers to have been actively selling securities, in the form of investment contracts, without the proper secondary license from the SEC.

Guaranteed P33K

Casa Infini enticed the public to invest in their alleged real estate projects in Baguio City either as a buyer-investor or as partner.

According to the SEC, it found the firm promising a guaranteed income of more than P33,000 per month for 20 months, with the company assuring the public that the investments collected were supposedly financing the real estate properties that it owned, managed and operated.

Section 8 of Republic Act 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code, expressly prohibits the sale or offer to sell and/or distribute of securities without the proper secondary license from the SEC.

In its motion to lift the CDO, Casa Infini argued that the solicitation from investors is not a scam since its project was supported by a license issued by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.

The group also denied being a Ponzi scheme, noting that the referral fee is paid and incurred not by the investments of new partners but by CI Builders itself because of the acknowledged benefit that the program will have for the business.