The Makati City Regional Trial Court found the top executives of delisted company Calata Corp. guilty of market manipulation over its botched P65-billion casino project in Cebu, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Tuesday.
It said the court, in a decision promulgated on May 28, found Calata Corp. chairman, president and chief executive Joseph Calata guilty beyond reasonable doubt of two counts of violation of Section 24(d) of Republic Act No. 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).
Calata Corp. corporate secretary, compliance officer and corporate information officer Jose Marie Fabella was also found guilty of two counts of violation of the same law.
Calata and Fabella were sentenced to pay fines amounting to P4 million each, or to serve time in prison if they fail to pay the fines on account of insolvency.
Michael Foxman, chief executive of Sino-America Gaming Investment Group LLC, Calata Corp.’s partner for the Mactan Leisure City project, was also charged with the same violations.
Calata was implicated for allegedly making misleading and exaggerated statements about its supposed Mactan Leisure City project, inducing the public to buy the company’s shares in 2016.
Section 24(d) of the SRC penalizes anyone who directly or indirectly makes false or misleading statements with respect to any material fact, which he knew or had reasonable ground to believe was so false or misleading, for the purpose of inducing investors to buy a security listed or traded on an exchange.
Calata Corp. in August 2016 reported that it teamed up with Macau Group and Sino-Amercian Investment Group LLC to build a P65-billion casino in Mactan.