Deported couple charged with fraud in Toronto

The couple deported from Canada last weekend for a string of estafa cases here has also been charged with fraud in Toronto. After appeals from their victims, mostly Filipinos or foreign nationals married to Filipino women, the Toronto police finally sued Janice and Kaye del Rosario for tricking people they befriended in Canada to invest in her business of buying and selling high-end jewelry, then running away with at least C$2 million of their savings. The Canadian government deported Janice, 44, and her husband Kaye, 33, to Manila last weekend on the basis of an arrest warrant from the Quezon City regional trial court for a string of estafa cases here in connection with a pyramid-type scam. The Quezon City police is preparing to charge the couple with syndicated estafa, a non-bailable offense that carries a life sentence. Janice and Kaye are detained at Quezon City police district’s Station 6, across from the House of Representatives near Commonwealth Avenue. At least 25 of the more than 200 victims they left behind in 2003 have filed complaints of estafa against the couple. Michael Labrecque, a sales representative in Toronto who “invested" C$90,000 (roughly P3.7 million) to the couple’s business, sent an e-mail to GMANews.TV and said they discovered the deception in early October 2006 when the post-dated checks from Janice bounced. He said they have known Janice for over two years. “In early August of last year, Janice Del Rosario approached us with a business proposal for a short-term Investment," he said. “The three of us --Cecilia Ramos, Michael Labrecque and Catalina Coran -- invested about C$200,000 (equivalent to P8.3 million) which was supposed to generate a good return on its maturity date, according to a signed contract, along with post-dated checks from her business account with TD Bank (i.e., Global Venture Placement and Trading)," he said. “After we received the first two initial interest payments, we had persevered to collect our principal investments from Janice Del Rosario (but she) started dodging our calls and refusing to hear our pleas," Labrecque narrated. “She provided a reference letter from PCF, HSBC, TD and numerous banking statements from a number of financial institutions to prove her credibility which later (turned out to be) fraudulent," he said. He said she was even furious when the “investors" tried to get back their money. “The response we received from her was far more unexpected and alarming. It contained defiance, mockery, and threats," he said. According to Labrecque, Janice even left a voice message to her callers. "You are not getting your money. If you come after me for your money, you will cry tears of blood and even the Premier cannot get me out of the country," the voice message said. “She seemed very arrogant as she seemed to believe that since she was in Canada no one could get her," he said. When Janice was trying to lure her victims to invest in her business, she portrayed herself as a religious person, hosting prayer meetings in her condominium and showering them with expensive gifts. The del Rosario couple lived in luxury to make their prospective victims believe they were wealthy. Janice claimed she was getting her jewelry from rich entrepreneurs. “Her (arrogant) attitude and her previous statements combined with the fact that our checks bounced made it crystal clear to us that we would not get our money back and something illegal has happened," Labrecque wrote to GMANews.TV. One of the couple’s many victims in Toronto is Luigi Chiarotto, a 75-year-old pensioner, who entrusted close to C$1.2million of his lifetime savings to Janice. He also signed as guarantor for a BMW and a Mercedes Benz that the del Rosario couple used while in Toronto. Chiarotto's Filipina wife, Lydia Pagulayan, guaranteed two credit cards for Janice that had a billing account of more than C$40,000 (P1.6 million). “The nature of her scam is to encourage people to invest in a supposedly legitimate business with a guaranteed high return. Usually, the investors receive the first couple of interest payments, and then that’s the end of it," Labrecque said. According to him, Janice managed to fund the post-dated checks representing the initial interests on the investments through the money she raised from new “investors." “This woman has defrauded Canadians with C$3 million to C$5 million (equivalent to P124 million to P207million)," Labrecque said. Janice and Kaye went to Canada in March 2003, along with their young boys, Joshua, 13, and Justin, 8, as tourists. They later applied for refugee status and claimed to have been a victim of political harassment by corrupt police officers. They also claimed one of the boys was kidnapped and she paid P40 million ransom for his freedom. The Canadian immigration authorities found their claims were fabrications. Their refugee application was denied in April last year. Three months later, the couple started convincing their “friends" to invest their money in the business they were engaged in. He said the “investors" were not aware the del Rosarios were wanted in the Philippines for fraud. He said they only learned about it after the couple had gone into hiding the day before they were supposed to show up at the Canadian immigration office for deportation in November. The Toronto Star reported Wednesday that weeks prior to their deportation, Janice approached three Filipino friends and offered them C$25,000 (roughly P1 million) if any of them would marry his 25-year-old son, Jose Vicente Tayzon, who holds a student visa. Another woman claimed that Janice offered her the same amount if she would wed Kaye, her husband, in a marriage of convenience. Labrecque said Janice “is very dangerous to the public." He sought assistance “to help bring the woman to justice and protect other people who may become victims." Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation are combing through a number of arrest warrants for del Rosario from different parts of the country, including one for prostitution dating back to 1997. The couple has engaged the services of former senator Rene Saguisag, a noted human rights lawyer, to defend them in the fraud charges the police is filing later this week or next week. - GMANews.TV