NEWS: "Chinoys scammed again"

**Monseratto** · September 24th, 2011 11:42 AM

Black market dealer takes off with P1B
BY AMADO P. MACASAET

A FOREIGN currency dealer in the black market has taken at least P1 billion from his clients and friends and flew off with the money with his wife.

It is not known where he is hiding but sources said he has found a safe haven in a country with which the Philippines does not have a mutual legal assistance treaty.

This Chinese-Filipino had always been in the foreign exchange business. He solicited dollar investments, catering to the greedy who found yields in the formal market too low.

He provided slightly higher interest and found the spread between currency smuggling and the official system worth his while because his volume is big. He operated in Binondo and Makati.

Sources said the currency trader was linked to a $16 million (around P700 million at current exchange rate) scheme to defraud the US Export-Import Bank.

A check showed that in 2007, two men from the Philippines were indicted for acting as brokers for several fraudulent loan transactions between Philippine companies and US lenders in which Eximbank acted as guarantor or insurer.

They were identified as Nelson L. Ti (Ty), 45, and Jose "Joey" Tirona, both from Manila.

According to the indictment, Ti identified companies in the Philippines that wanted to borrow money to purchase US goods and lending banks in the United States that would lend money for the purpose of buying US goods.

Ti then assisted the borrowers in executing loan agreements with the lending banks and in obtaining loan guarantees or insurance policies from the Ex-Im Bank as part of the loan agreements.

The indictment alleged that Ti recruited U***porters -- including Tirona and David Villongco -- for the purpose of purchasing US goods and shipping those goods to the Philippine borrowers, and then instructed the exporters to prepare false shipping documents and submit those false documents to the lending banks to make it appear that they had purchased and shipped goods.

The indictment alleged that the exporters did not purchase the goods called for in the loan agreements, and instead misappropriated a majority of the loan proceeds and sent large portions of those proceeds to bank accounts owned and controlled by Ti and other foreign bank accounts as directed by Ti.

The indictment further alleged that Tirona assisted Ti by, among other things, using bank accounts that he controlled to misappropriate loan proceeds and to transfer the proceeds to Ti and other foreign bank accounts as directed by Ti.

Ti and Tirona were been charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit offenses against the United States; three counts of submitting false statements to the Ex-Im Bank; three counts of mail fraud; six counts of money laundering; and one count of obstructing a proceeding before a department and agency of the United States.

Ti and Tirona face a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge; five years in prison on each of the false statement charges; 30 years in prison on each of the mail fraud charges; 10 years in prison on each of the money laundering charges; and five years in prison on the obstruction charge. The indictment also seeks forfeiture from Ti and Tirona of the misappropriated loan proceeds.

Villongco, 51, of San Mateo, Calif., an alleged co-conspirator of Ti and Tirona, entered a plea of guilty on March 16, 2007, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to a two-count information charging him with conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims and mail fraud. As part of his plea agreement, Villongco agreed to forfeit $150,000 to the US government.

Several other individuals have been charged in or have pleaded guilty to related schemes to defraud the Ex-Im Bank. For example, Marilyn G. Ong, 51, and her nephew, Ildefonso Ong, Jr., 43, both from Manila, were charged in a 19-count indictment with participating in a scheme involving approximately $40 million worth of fraudulent loan transactions between companies located in the Philippines and U.S. lending banks.

**Monseratto** · September 24th, 2011 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by uls

ganito --

think that guy isnt an employee

he's running a one-man hedge fund

the guy has a trading account in his name and a dollar account that he uses to transfer funds to the trading account

he asked clients to transfer funds to his dollar account

for transparency, he sent his clients monthly reports of his performance

ok performance niya so clients keep sending him money

and word of mouth dumami clients niya

then one day he disappears

Kagaya nito kay Michael Liew at Cristina Gonzalez-Tuason ng Performance Investment Product Corp.

**uls** · September 24th, 2011 12:36 PM

A FOREIGN currency dealer in the black market has taken at least P1 billion from his clients and friends and flew off with the money with his wife.

black market?

from the news reports it's not clear talaga what he does

doon sa isang article "forex trading", "futures", "derivatives" daw

forex, futures, derivatives are not black market

you gotta have an account at a foreign broker to trade those

ang pagkaintindi ko sa "black market" is when there's shortage of dollars the black market (or informal market) is where you buy and sell dollars at higher than market rate

why would there be a black market for dollars here when there's no shortage of dollars in the Phils.?

i would wanna sell dollars at higher than market rate but why would anyone buy dollars at higher than market rate?

This Chinese-Filipino had always been in the foreign exchange business. He solicited dollar investments, catering to the greedy who found yields in the formal market too low.

ya magkano lang interest ng dollar account

syempre you would want higher returns

so if the guy can produce higher returns that means he's putting dollars in higher yieldiing/riskier assets

OR

he's running a ponzi scheme -- using clients' money to pay other clients

He provided slightly higher interest and found the spread between currency smuggling and the official system worth his while because his volume is big. He operated in Binondo and Makati.

currency smuggling?

so he's carrying bulk cash in and out of the country?

spread between official system?

so he is buying dollars at lower than market rate and selling at market rate?

so parang money changer siya?

labo ng mga news report

**Tj_abs** · September 24th, 2011 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by uls

ganito --

think that guy isnt an employee

he's running a one-man hedge fund

the guy has a trading account in his name and a dollar account that he uses to transfer funds to the trading account

he asked clients to transfer funds to his dollar account

for transparency, he sent his clients monthly reports of his performance

ok performance niya so clients keep sending him money

and word of mouth dumami clients niya

then one day he disappears

thats what u called "houdini" hao siao hehe. laway lang puhunan then bubukulan ka. i know several chinese close friends na ganyan ang ginagawa.

**uls** · September 24th, 2011 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by Tj_abs

thats what u called "houdini" hao siao hehe. laway lang puhunan then bubukulan ka. i know several chinese close friends na ganyan ang ginagawa.

actually madali lang mag umpisa ng ganyan racket

open a trading account using your own capital

when you make lots of money brag to family and friends

they'll go "wow! you're good. can i invest with you?"

hehehe

**CVT** · September 24th, 2011 06:39 PM

Then, you're made!...

14.1K:tvcomedy:

**tidus1203** · September 24th, 2011 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by uls

ganito --

think that guy isnt an employee

he's running a one-man hedge fund

the guy has a trading account in his name and a dollar account that he uses to transfer funds to the trading account

he asked clients to transfer funds to his dollar account

for transparency, he sent his clients monthly reports of his performance

ok performance niya so clients keep sending him money

and word of mouth dumami clients niya

then one day he disappears

Stupid clients...

Why would you give money to a person and place it under HIS NAME? Even I won't fall for that crap! If I want him to trade my money I open an account under my name and give him my password. If he insist na dapat deretso sa account nya, ulol sya!

**uls** · September 24th, 2011 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by tidus1203

Stupid clients...

Why would you give money to a person and place it under HIS NAME? Even I won't fall for that crap! If I want him to trade my money I open an account under my name and give him my password. If he insist na dapat deretso sa account nya, ulol sya!

tiwala eh

kamag anak/kaibigan kasi

na-earn ng guy ang trust ng mga clients

all he had to do was send them checks every month

sa sobra tuwa ng mga clients they encouraged their family and friends to join

kaya umabot sa ganyan kalaki ang amount

classic Madoff dude

diba people were actually begging Madoff to accept their money?

**tidus1203** · September 24th, 2011 11:25 PM

Yeah but in Madoff's case he actually has a company and clients have accounts with him with their OWN NAME and ACCOUNT NAME. And not deposit it to MADOFF's personal account itself...

I wouldn't even deposit money to someone unless BIGAY na yun. Walang tiwala basta pera. WALA!!!! Ikaw lang ang pwedeng mapagkakatiwalaan pag dating sa pera. IKAW LANG!