Singer Ted Ito’s twin sons arrested over alleged P5-M investment scam | Kicker Daily News

Singer Ted Ito’s twin sons arrested over alleged P500-M investment scam
Posted on July 11, 2016 by Ron E.J. Carleon


MANILA, Philippines – The twin sons of Japanese singer Ted Ito has been arrested in San Juan City late last week after they were tagged as the mastermind in an investment scam that duped hundeds of people of around P500-M.

Apprehended by San Juan City police on Thursday are Terence Kenji Ito and Theodore Yuji Ito, president and chairman, respectively, of One Lightning Corporation (OLC), direct selling and investment firm ordered shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year for allegedly duping its clients, including businessmen of nearly half-a-billion pesos.

The Ito brothers are the twin sons of Ted Ito; the Japanese singer whose singles “Ikaw pa rin” and “Maghintay ka lamang” became monstrous hits in the 90s and staples in karaoke shops in Manila and in the provinces.

According to an Inquirer article dated July 11, the siblings were arrested by authorities while waiting in a vehicle along P. Guevarra Street, Barangay Corazon de Jesus, San Juan City on Thursday morning.

A warrant for their arrest had been issued last December 2015 by Judge Genie Gapas-Agbada of Pasig RTC Branch 254.

In April, the SEC has filed more charges against OLC and its officials for continuously offering and selling to the public investment contracts without any permit through a new company called FDS Forward Direct Selling Corp.

Aside from the Ito brothers, also charged with syndicated estafa case – a non-bailable offense – are OLC incorporators namely Aldus Renier Tubiera, Joanary Roxas and Jake Ryu Oprecio who all remain at large.

“The scheme employed by the said corporation was clearly a Ponzi scheme which they tried to hide to trying to appear as a multilevel networking company engaged in the marketing of cosmetic and health products,” said SEC in its complaint.

A Ponzi scheme is described as “a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a nonexistent enterprise is fostered by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors.”

OLC started in 2014 selling beauty, health and anti-cancer products with a promise of an attractive 80-percent return of investment to potential investors.