Philippines’s ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ dangled blue chip stocks

MANILA, Philippines – Former Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) employee Jose Cecilio “Jay” Peñaflor, now described by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) as the Philippines’ version of the Wolf of Wall Street, enticed stock market investors to invest in big corporations, promising them high returns.

Sources said Peñaflor may be the biggest stock market investment scam operator in recent years with an estimated P100 million to P300 million in funds taken from several investors including young professionals, government employees, overseas Filipinos and, possibly, military men.

More victims criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) for releasing Peñaflor two weeks ago after getting caught in an entrapment by the NBI.

A victim who requested anonymity told The STAR yesterday that Peñaflor promised high yielding returns once they invest in shares of some listed companies.

“First, I invested P50,000, which grew to P60,000,” said the victim, a government employee who invested the money through Peñaflor’s CAP-M Consultancy Co., which was reportedly connected with the PSE-accredited Regina Capital.

Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital managing director, denied that CAP-M is connected in any way with Regina.

The victim added that he was told that his initial investment was used to buy shares in San Miguel Corp., a claim that he could not verify. Although unverified, he decided to “roll over” the P60,000 and, in a span of three months, was told that it grew to P100,000.

Peñaflor allegedly promised him again that the money would grow some more after an investment in ABS-CBN.

A number of victims have banded together and asked the NBI for help so they could get their money back.

Peñaflor has been communicating with some of the victims, promising to return their funds in exchange for freeing him from any liability, a setup that the NBI discourages.

An industry source said Peñaflor tried to sell employee stock option plans of big companies to unwitting stock market investors. In stock market parlance, ESOPs are contracts between a company and its employees to give workers the right to buy a specific number of company shares at a fixed price within a certain period of time. – With Ghio Ong