One of the leaders and operators of a multi-billion peso casino junket scam has been caught by the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) following months of investigation and surveillance.
“Master,” later identified as Mark Stephen Alzona and ranked third on the CIDG-Cordillera’s most-wanted list, was among 18 other leaders of a casino junket group indicted for syndicated estafa.
Alzona was arrested in Barangay Kabayanihan, and in the same week, fellow scam leader Hector Pantollana, who had fled the country, was deported back to the Philippines as a result of Interpol operations.
Alzona and his compatriots allegedly issued loan contracts to investors with a promise of guaranteed profit ranging from 60 percent to 111 percent per annum, with the payment of profits and return of capital guaranteed by postdated checks, prompting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to file criminal complaints against them in June of this year.
According to the SEC, they were being charged for violating the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) and the Anti-Money Laundering Act after the regulator’s enforcement and investor protection department found that they were soliciting investments from the public to fund their casino junket operation and financing activities.
The SEC also pointed out that Pantollana’s three companies were not registered corporations with the regulator, and that they were not authorized to solicit investments from the public.
Alzona and his compatriots had supposedly fleeced their investors of at least P17 billion, P4 billion of which came from Cordilleran investors.
The two face dozens of arrest warrants, and Alzona has been denied bail and must stay in detention.
