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Fil-Ams sue California businesswoman for alleged Ponzi scheme

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Steve Angeles | TFC News Los Angeles

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JwnsLdd_MbQ?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>Former Philippine actress Rita Magdalena joined dozen others in taking to court a California businesswoman over an alleged Ponzi scheme.Maia Dickerson, known as Dulce Pino, was sued in a multi-state and multi-million dollar civil lawsuit in Sacramento.The lawsuit states that around 2020, Pino asked members of the Filipino community to invest in her business Creative Legal Funding or CLF.She supposedly presented CLF as a corporation that invested in accident lawyers, and would finance law firm activities, making for a low-risk, high reward opportunity.&quot;It seemed too good to be true,&quot; said Magdalena. &quot;But everyone in my circle, like my friends, most of them they’re invested and they’re getting money. So, I was like, okay I’ll try $20,000 at first then it became 40 then it became 60 then it become 80. I [didn&#x27;t] think she will scam her friends.&quot;Investors initially believed that their investment was paying off as they would receive what they believed were investment returns, until early this year when their dividends stopped arriving.&quot;At first it was running smooth, I got it four times up until December that she said the company’s account was frozen so she stopped paying other people,&quot; Magdalena added. &quot;But she know I need the money.&quot;A civil suit filed last August also alleged that investors&#x27; money never went to finance lawyers, and their payouts were from investors that followed them.Pino already faces one lawsuit in Washington state with 32 plaintiffs over similar allegations.The Washington lawsuit is scheduled for a court hearing in April 2024, while the first court date for the California lawsuit has been scheduled for July of next year.The Philippine Honorary Consulate in San Diego had warned Filipinos against businesses with Pino, while the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued a Desist and Refrain Order against her. But in a brief phone call with ABS-CBN News&#x27; North America Bureau, Pino denied the allegations which she said stemmed from personal issues.She also claimed that the victims had actually profited from their investments.

Rita Magdalena joined dozens others in suing a California businesswoman for an alleged Ponzi scheme.