The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has ordered the cancellation of the corporate registration of Astrazion Noble Task Community Foundation and Astrazion Global Holdings Philippines, Inc. “for soliciting investments from public without the requisite license and through a fraudulent scheme.”

It can be recalled the Commission made its Cease-and-Desist Order (CDO) against the Astrazion group permanent because of operating an online multi-level marketing platform where it actively promoted the sale of its digital currency called AZNT Token that costs 10 cents per token, the first CDO was issued last May. 

According to SEC, the group is only registered as a corporation and should operate within its purpose only, but it is not licensed to issue, sell, or offer securities for sale nor to undertake investment activities that require prior registration or a secondary license from the Commission.

“As a rule, SECURITIES cannot be sold or offered for sale within the Philippines without such securities being registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission through the filing and consequent approval of a Registration Statement and a corresponding Permit to Offer/Sell has been issued by the Commission,” the regulatory agency explained. 

The SEC also added that its Enforcement and Investor Protection Department “submitted that ASTRAZION GLOBAL and ASTRAZION FOUNDATION / ASTRAZION INTERNATIONAL are engaged in investment-taking activities without the required license or registration which is not authorized by this Commission as it offers and sells unregistered securities, in the form of investment contracts, to the public, in violation of Section 8 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).”

The Commission is talking about the Astrazion Group’s AZNT Token, the platform’s digital token, where the group is promising that the token will soon be $10 worth each from the current price of $0.10. The SEC tagged it as security. 

“Since this scheme involves the sale or offering of securities to the public, the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) requires that these securities are duly registered and that the concerned corporation and/or its agents have appropriate registration and/or license to sell such securities to the public pursuant to Section 8 of the SRC. Indubitably, ASTRAZION HOLDINGS / ASTRAZION GLOBAL /ASTRAZION INTERNATIONAL solicited and accepted investments from the public despite the fact that they have not registered these investment contracts with the Commission,” the government body clarified. 

With this, the Commission reiterated that the Astrazion Group is not duly licensed to sell and even called the entity’s operation a “Ponzi Scheme,” which goes against the government’s regulation law. 

“WHEREFORE, for violation of Section 44 of the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines (RCC or R.A. 11232) in relation to Sections 8.1, 28.1 and 26.1 of the Securities Regulation Code, P.D. 902-Aand Section 179 (j) of the RCC, the Certificates of Incorporation and the registrations of ASTRAZION NOBLE TASK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION and ASTRAZION  GLOBAL  HOLDINGS  PHILIPPINES  INC.as corporations, are hereby REVOKED,” SEC concluded. 

This article is published on BitPinas: THE END: SEC Revokes Astrazion’s Corporate Registration

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