Man linked to Ponzi scheme held in Davao

DAVAO CITY—The Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) in Eastern Mindanao arrested a man allegedly involved in the P200-million Ponzi scheme operated by Minerva Co. whose leader had been arrested in Bulacan province in January this year.

Supt. Joel Pernito, chief of the Eastern Mindanao CIDU, warned Mindanao investors to be wary of pyramiding schemes promising them unusually high returns for their money in a short time, as CIDU operatives tracked down a suspect hiding in Davao del Sur province.

The CIDU arrested Reynaldo Lu, 50, in Barangay Sinawilan in Matanao town, Davao del Sur, on Friday morning.

Lu, a resident of Barangay Marber in Bansalan town, Davao del Sur, is facing charges of syndicated estafa in a Mandaluyong court for his alleged involvement in the Ponzi scheme. He is also facing a car theft case in a Regional Trial Court in Cainta town, Rizal province.

Pernito said the CIDU had been on the suspect’s trail for over a month before they caught him where he was allegedly hiding.

The Ponzi scheme, which was named after Italian Charles Ponzi for duping thousands in New England in 1920s, is a fraudulent investment scheme in which investors are promised unusually high yields for their money based on the amount poured in by subsequent investors instead of on income from a real business operation.

Pernito said Lu allegedly worked for Minerva, which started almost at the same time as Aman Futures Group.

Aman Futures was ordered shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2012 after victimizing at least 10,000 people in the Visayas and Mindanao, and fleecing them of a total of P12 billion.

Elvy Lu, allegedly one of the heads of Minerva, was arrested in Bulacan in January this year.

The CIDU regional chief warned investors in Mindanao to be vigilant and not to easily believe in business schemes that promise an unusually high return of investments in so short a time. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao