SEC orders Unity Premier to stop soliciting investments

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered Unity Premier Business Group OPC, a one-person corporation that sells beauty product investment packages, to stop what the regulator flagged as “illegal” investment solicitation.

In an order dated Aug. 16, 2022,  the SEC en banc directed the company, which also operates under the name UnityPremier Beauty and Wellness Products Trading, to immediately cease and desist from engaging in the “unlawful or unauthorized solicitation, offer, and/or sale of securities in the form of investment contracts without the necessary license from the SEC.”

The order also covers Unity Premier’s CEO and sole stockholder Minerva Aganan Lorilla, nominee and treasurer Renalyn Lorilla, and alternate nominee Leonilda Bandojo, as well as its operators, promoters, representatives, salesmen, agents, uplines, enablers, influencers, conduits, subsidiaries and affiliates.

“It is clear from the facts and evidence presented that Unity Premier business model which promises guaranteed high return on investments, as high as 200 percent, is not sustainable and can only be carried out as long as new investors continue to come in,” according to the order.

“This is a fraudulent scheme which will likely cause grave or irreparable injury or prejudice to the investing public.”

The company and its officers were ordered to remove their internet presence relating to the investment scheme. They were further prohibited from transacting any business involving funds in depository banks, and from transferring, disposing, or conveying any related assets to ensure the preservation of the assets of investors.

The SEC issued the order after its Enforcement and Investor Protection Department (EIPD) found that Unity Premier had been touting itself as a financial institution that could enable members to start their own e-commerce and affiliate platform and beauty product business.

Unity Premier was found to be offering investment packages worth P100 to P50,000 each, with promised returns ranging from P3.50 to P1,750 daily.

Investors were asked to create an account through Unity Premier’s website and pay for the investment package of their choice. They were promised a 15-percent commission when they recruit more people into the system.

The scheme involves the sale and offer of securities to the public in the form of investment contracts, whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits primarily from the efforts of others, according to the SEC. Section 8 of Republic Act No. 8799, or The Securities Regulation Code (SRC) prohibits such activity without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the SEC.

“At the outset, the Commission notes that contrary to the primary purpose of Unity Premier of direct selling beauty products, there is no information or evidence showing what products are for sale, product description, prices per product as well as where the products are being sold,” the SEC En Banc held.

“What is evident in Unity Premier’s advertisements is the focus on the sale and/or offer for sale of various investment packages with an insignificant inclusion of soap products.”

In its investigation, the EIPD also found that Unity Premier had been consciously misrepresenting itself to have acquired a secondary license from the SEC, and that it was supposedly reinvesting money from its investors in the stock market, foreign exchange market, and cryptocurrency trading.