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DOJ urged to reinstate syndicated estafa raps vs bitcoin investment scam couple

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Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">DOJ resumes today its preliminary investigation hearing into P709.21-million investment scam in the form of ‘bitcoin’ allegedly perpetrated by NewG Bitcoin Trading and Ordonio couple: <a href="https://t.co/O3NfVmwusU">pic.twitter.com/O3NfVmwusU</a>— Ina Reformina (@InaReformina) <a href="https://twitter.com/InaReformina/status/991896773906976768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2018</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div>The Philippine National Police (PNP) urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reverse its earlier ruling finding probable cause for the bailable offense of estafa against a couple implicated in an alleged P709.21-million cryptocurrency scam and reinstate the original case and higher crime of syndicated estafa. The PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Anti-Organized Crime Unit (AOCU) filed a motion for reconsideration of the DOJ’s April 10, 2018 inquest resolution that junked syndicated estafa charges, a non-bailable offense, against Arnel Ordonio and Leonady Ordonio and ordered their indictment for the lesser offense.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/06/18/couple-arrested-for-alleged-bitcoin-investment-scam">Couple arrested for alleged bitcoin investment scam</a></li></ul>Spouses Ordonio, who were arrested in an entrapment operation in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur on April 4, are now on temporary liberty after posting bail.The case stems from an alleged investment scam in the form of cryptocurrency or the so-called ‘bitcoin’ by NewG Bitcoin Trading owned, according to the CIDG AOCU, by spouses Ordonio, Mark Dela Paz, Daryl James Navarro, Gerald Manalang, Jhane Rhocelle Reyes.Charged along with the above-stated individuals are 29 others, plus several unnamed persons identified only as ‘Jane, Jhon and Peter Does.’Respondents allegedly promised good interest [rates] to 28 private complainants, led by Christopher F. Aguilar, in a span of two to three months.“Based on [Arnel Ordonio’s] explanations the investment will be put in an online business or in a form of cryptocurrency, the so-called ‘bitcoin,’ and once the person invested his/her investment (cash), he/she will automatically become stockholders/shareholders/investors (but the same is only a deception strategy)… However, when the maturity date arrives, respondents [spouses Ordonio, Dela Paz, Navarro, Manalang, Reyes] cannot be contacted on their respective cell phones and nowhere to be found even with their given address,” the complaint alleged. In its motion for reconsideration, the CIDG AOCU told the panel of handling prosecutors consisting of Assistant State Prosecutors Charlie Guhit and Mary Ann Parong, and Associate Prosecution Attorney 1 Alyssa Zapata, that their ruling junking the syndicated estafa raps against spouses Ordonio “is seemingly erroneous” for failure to appreciate the participation of Dela Paz, Navarro, Manalang, and Reyes. In the challenged resolution the panel said, “[c]onsidering that only two individuals (spouses Ordonio) were arrested in the act of committing the fraud during the entrapment operation and subjected to inquest, the crime charged cannot be deemed to have been committed by a syndicate.”The CIDG AOCU insists that while it is true that Dela Paz, Navarro, Manalang, and Reyes were not apprehended during the police operation, sufficient evidence was presented to establish their roles as “conspirators or members of the syndicate.” The CIDG AOCU explained the number of complainants against the same respondents establishes their complicity in the commission of the alleged offense.<div>NO PROBABLE CAUSE</div>Reyes and nine other respondents namely, Daniel Rabo Benedicto, Jerome A. Reyes, Daryl James S. Navarro, Joseph I. Gantan, Frederico L. Monteroso, Roselle B. Tulop, Jazel Charisse M. Bersola, April May Legaspi, and Lorenzo Aldrin D. Manalus filed their respective counter-affidavits during Thursday’s hearing, and urged the DOJ to dismiss the charges.They claimed the CIDG AOCU failed to establish probable cause against them, while several of the above-mentioned respondents claimed they, too, fell victim to the alleged scam as investors.Spouses Ordonio, who are impleaded in the other complaints for syndicated estafa involving the same alleged scam, have up to May 24 to file their joint or respective counter-affidavits.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reverse its earlier ruling finding probable cause for the bailable offense of estafa against a couple implicated in an alleged P709.21-million cryptocurrency scam and reinstate the original case and higher crime of syndicated estafa.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reverse its earlier ruling finding probable cause for the bailable offense of estafa against a couple implicated in an alleged P709.21-million cryptocurrency scam and reinstate the original case and higher crime of syndicated estafa.

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DOJ urged to reinstate syndicated estafa raps vs bitcoin investment scam couple

Ina Reformina,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 03, 2018 09:33 PM PHT

Read More:

DOJ

PNP

estafa

syndicated estafa

bitcoin

scam

investment scam

cryptocurrency

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