Elderly Stockton, Sacramento Filipino residents targeted in international investment scheme

More than a dozen suspects are collectively facing hundreds of charges in connection with an alleged international Ponzi scheme targeting mostly elderly Filipino residents in Stockton and Sacramento, authorities say.

The California Department of Justice announced Friday afternoon that 15 defendants are facing a total of more than 200 felony charges, including grand theft and financial elder abuse.

At least 30 victims were convinced to make investments totaling about $5 million in what the California Department of Justice called a "fraudulent scheme" since around December 2015 that promised to use the money for construction of a resort in the Philippines called the Pagudpud Sands Resort.

According to court documents, some victims invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the alleged scheme.

“Senior citizens were the direct targets of this fraudulent, international investment scheme. Our most vulnerable loved ones should never be deceived and defrauded of their hard-earned retirement money,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement announcing the charges. “Those who take part in the financial abuse of elders must be held accountable for their actions.”

Two felony complaints listed the defendants as Larry Dela Cruz, Ricardo "Rick" Rivera, Louis "Lou" Maser, Christopher Jaromay, Garry Gerardo, Bernard Campilan, Christela Balubar, Matt Rose, Marina Jaromay, Merito Jaromay, Gregory Pritchard, Juan Murillo, Thu Dang, Kristel Villar and Nelson Manmano.

The defendants allegedly used their positions as financial advisers to convince the victims to invest in the resort's development, using tactics such as group sales presentations that "made gross misrepresentations," CA DOJ officials said. Alleged false claims included that the well-known hotel company Wyndham Resorts committed to managing the resort and that any investments would go to the construction of the resort.

However, authorities say much of the money collected from the victims was used to pay two of the defendants a minimum of $10,000 a month in commission for bring investors to the "fraudulent" project and other unrelated multi-level marketing schemes.

"Investors were promised 'interest payments' on their investment, but did not know the promised interest payments were actually derived from other victims' investments and not the resort itself," authorities said. "In most cases, the suspects failed to deliver the interest payments completely."

Arrests in this case were a direct result of a joint investigation conducted by federal and state investigators, which included the CA DOJ Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Investigators say there may be more victims who were targeted by the defendants and are asking anyone who believes they have been defrauded by the scheme to contact the CA DOJ at (800) 722-0432.

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, research shows that people over the age of 65 are more likely to be the victims of financial scams than someone in their 40s.

"Fraudsters target the elderly, as they may be lonely, willing to listen and are more trusting than younger individuals," ACFE says.

National Council on Aging says older adults lose billions of dollars each year to scams and fraud.

Those who've fallen victim should know they are not alone and that there are people who can help them, the council says.

Here are a few tips the council offers for any elderly individual who believes they may be the victim of a scam:

Don't be embarrassed and talks to someone you trust. "Doing nothing could only make it worse," the council says. Keep phone numbers and resources you can turn to handy, such as the local police department, adult protective services and your bank if money has been taken from your accounts. Contact information for your local adult protective services agency can be found by calling the government sponsored national resource line Eldercare Locator at (800) 677-1116 or the organizations website at https://eldercare.acl.gov/. Scams can also be reported online to the Federal Trade Commission.

Record reporter Cassie Dickman covers Stockton and San Joaquin County government. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @byCassieDickman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Elderly Stockton, Sacramento Filipino residents targeted in international investment scheme

___

(c)2021 The Record (Stockton, Calif.)

Visit The Record (Stockton, Calif.) at www.recordnet.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.