Following the arrest of twenty ProCap Insurance scammers last October, the Philippine SEC noted the Ponzi scheme was still being promoted in the Philippines.
Apparently the foregoing [arrests] did not deter ProCap from carrying out its unauthorized investment-taking activities as the EIPD showed another evidence that ProCap is continuously offering/selling its unregistered securities.
ProCap had in fact invited the public to join its business presentations via Zoom platform on 23 January 2024 for this purpose.
This promoted the Enforcement and Investors Protection Department (EIPD) to file an instant motion requesting a cease and desist order.
The motion was granted on February 8th and pertains to:
- ProCap International Inc., a shell company registered by Marilyn Presto Pedrigal and Jessica Fuentes Florendo in the Philippines;
- ProCap Insure, a shell company registered in Seychelles; and
- ProCap InsureTech, a shell company registered in Seychelles
Continued promotion of ProCap in the Philippines runs the risk of perpetrators being held in contempt. It’s assumed this will lead to more arrests.
In response to the arrests last October, ProCap rebranded from ProCap Insurance to ProCap International.
ProCap also hired the law firm Aguirre & Gatdula to put out a “we are not a scam” statement the day after the October arrests.
Aguirre & Gatdula don’t appear to have a website. The claimed law firm operates on FaceBook through Yahoo and GMail email addresses.
The statement put out by Aguirre & Gatdula denies the October arrests and claims, despite ProCap committing securities fraud, that the company “operates within the bounds of the law”.
Aguirre & Gatdula also lie about ProCap being registered with the Philippine SEC.
In its effort to comply with the Philippine laws and regulations, ProCap engaged the services of the Firm on 01 October 2023 for the necessary legal assistance to ensure that ProCap operates within the bounds of the law.
With an existing SEC registration and business permit, ProCap’s office is open and operational as there is no directive for its closure from any government office.
As confirmed by in the order granting the EIPD’s cease and desist motion;
ProCap has no license to sell/offer securities.
The EIPD presented in evidence the Certifications issued by the Company Registration and Monitoring Department (CRMD), Markets and Securities Regulation Department (MSRD), and the Corporate Governance and Finance Department (CGFD) of the Commission [SEC] which all certified that they have not issued to ProCap a secondary license to operate as a broker/dealer of securities, and that ProCap is not a registered issuer of securities pursuant to … the SRC, or of mutual funds, including exchange traded funds, membership certificates, and time shares.
ProCap appears to be a Ponzi scheme run out of Singapore by Chinese nationals.
As of March 2024, SimilarWeb tracked ~5400 monthly visits to ProCap’s website. Top sources of traffic include the Philippines 64% (up 367% month on month), Turkey (13%), Switzerland (7%), Japan (7%) and France (5%).
In addition to ongoing regulatory enforcement in the Philippines, Hong Kong issued a ProCap securities fraud warning on April 8th.