SEC looks at all angles of PIPC scam operations

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it is looking at all angles with respect to the operations of Performance Investment Products Corp. (PIPC), a foreign exchange trading firm whose Singaporean owner has left many hapless investors holding the proverbial empty bag, and has urged all investors to come forward to aid the corporate agency watchdog in its investigation.

Michael H.K. Liew, the owner of PIPC in the British Virgin Islands (Performance Investment BVI), is in hiding and can no longer be located.

“We are looking at everything but there are no complainants, except for the one who sought the help of the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) to trace the whereabouts of the owner of PIPC,” said SEC chairperson Fe Barin.

Barin urged investors and agents of PIPC to come forward to help the SEC gather evidence against the company.

High profile investors are reportedly hesitant to come forward and report to the SEC or police authorities on fears that they may also be held liable under the Anti-Money Laundering Act given the huge sums of money wired to PIPC’s worldwide network of banks.

Among these banks include ABN Amro Bank, Banque National De Paris, Bank of Boston, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Citibank, Credit Lyonnais, Standard Charteered Bank, Swiss Finance, Union Bank of Switzerland, and Westdeutsche Landesbank.

PIPC general manager Cristina Gonzalez-Tuason has sought the assistance of the NBI to relocate Liew in the hopes of recovering investors’ money which reportedly amount to between $140 million and $250 million.

One investor reportedly invested $1 million while another invested $1.5 million.

PIPC’s  investment scheme offered investors a superior short-term rate of return on capital with only moderate expected volatility by the trading of sophisticated financial products called “futures derivatives,” which allow the investor to trade on margin, which magnifies their gains, but also amplifies losses when the market moves against them.

The group’s currency traders invest in different currencies and economies which include the US dollar, British pound, euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and Australian dollar. 

SEC sources said those who operated PIPC are the same persons behind Performance Foreign Exchange Corp. which was issued a cease-and-desist order by the SEC in 2001 but was later lifted after the Supreme Court overruled the SEC.

Another source said the SEC’s Compliance and Enforcement Department received a complaint against PIPC as early as last year for soliciting investments from the public without the necessary license.

PIPC, however, was cleared and was just sanctioned for non-registration under the Foreign Investment Act.