Philippine police charged 14 foreigners, including 11 British nationals, with fraud and violation of securities trading laws after an investigation into sales of phony stocks.
Philippine police charged 14 foreigners, including 11 British nationals, with fraud and violation of securities trading laws after an investigation into sales of phony stocks.
Courts set a bail of 40,000 pesos (US$800) for the suspects who also include a Canadian, an Italian and a Czech. If convicted, they could face a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison.
Police arrested the 14 for working without permits last Friday and accused them of running a telemarketing operation from a downtown Manila office to sell stock that did not exist.
Police said the company they worked for, Mendez Prior Europe, operated without a Philippine Stock Exchange license and sold the phony stock to citizens of English-speaking nations worldwide.
One victim, a South African furniture manufacturer, bought dlrs 135,000 in stock from the company in 1999 and found out this month that it did not exist, according to the police charge sheet.
Those charged include British nationals Dionne Paulette McLarty, Jonathon Dodson, Bruce Darcy Gabor Kaposy, Grayson Buckley, James Fallon and Christopher Copeland as well as Canadian Martin Patrick Totton, Czech Republic citizen Helena Ciskova and Italian Massino Provenza.
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