Following publication of our “Mining City lying about Philippine SEC registration” article earlier this week, I’ve had Mining City corporate emailing me to insist the SEC’s own information is wrong.

That discussion has now come to a head, following confirmation from the SEC that Mining City is a Ponzi scheme.

Our initial October 26th article covered a then recent Mining City webinar, in which CEO Gregory Rogowski claimed

we have a license for Mining City and for Prophetek and for what we are doing, issued by SEC (in) the Philippines.

Within hours of that article going live, “Media Mining City” wrote in to advise;

The contents about Prophetek’s (Mining City) professional activity, which you have mentioned in your new article are untrue and misleading.

We encourage you to update your article. Please note that we will be forced to sue you for infringing personal rights if our request is not fulfilled.

Kindly find attached, PROPHETEK MINING CITY Registration Application Form for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Philippines.

Perusal of the registration application form Mining City forwarded confirmed it was for Prophetek Mining City, OPC, a newly created shell company that has nothing to do with Mining City’s investment opportunity.

I wrote back to Mining City with a link to my response article.

On October 29th I received a reply from corporate, attached to which was an “official statement regarding the situation of Mining City and  SEC in the Philippines.”

Relevant “facts” claimed by Mining City include;

  1. We already received confirmation that the (Prophetek Mining City, OPC) registration application was internally accepted for final review & decision before approval.
  2. We conducted a video call on 27th October 2020 with a representative manager of the SEC office in the Philippines, and it’s been estimated that the process will be completed within a week from that date, subject to no further delays.
  3. The SEC will then announce the result to the public.

That same day the Philippine SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection Department put out its own Mining City disclaimer advisory.

See if you can spot the differences between the SEC’s and Mining City’s October 29th statements:

This DISCLAIMER-ADVISORY is prompted by numerous reports, inquiries, including posts and videos circulating on social media and video-sharing sites where it has been made to appear that MINING CITY or variations of its name such as, among others, PROPHETEK MININGCITY, OPC and other entities connected with it, have completed the SEC company registration process or have in fact been registered with the Commission.

This is apparently an effort by individuals or group of persons to mislead the public using such false representations to create a semblance of legality to the operations of MINING CITY for the purpose of enticing the public to inv est in its scheme which was subject of an ADVISORY issued by the Commission on September 10, 2020.

Hence, contrary to these claims and for the guidance and information of the public, per records of the Commission,
MINING CITY, PROPHETEK MINING CITY, OPC or any variation of such name using the root word MINING CITY or any entity connected with it, are NOT REGISTERED with the Commission.

Likewise, contrary to said false representations, MINING CITY, PROPHETEK MIN ING CITY, OPC or any variation of such name using the root word MINING CITY or any entity connected with it, have not been issued a secondary license to solicit investments or offer securities to the public for whatever purpose.

As such, MINING CITY, PROPHETEK MINING CITY, OPC or any entity related to MINING CITY, are NOT AUTHORIZED to solicit, offer, accept or take investments/placements from the public nor to issue investment contracts and other forms of securities.

In its most damning statement yet, the SEC goes on to clarify that it has no intention of permitting Mining City, which it defines as a Ponzi scheme, a registration license.

The offering and selling of securities in the form of investment contracts with badges of a “Ponzi Scheme,” which is inherently fraudulent and unsustainable, is NOT a registrable security . The Commission will not issue a Permit/License to Offer and Sell Securities to the Public to persons or entities that are engaged in this business or scheme.

A “Ponzi Scheme” is a scam that involves a scheme where monies from new investors are used in paying “fake profits” to prior investors and is designed mainly to favor its top recruiters and prior risk takers and is detrimental to subsequent members in case of scarcity of new investors.

The public is again advised NOT TO INVEST or STOP INVESTING in any scheme offered by MINING CITY.

It seems Mining City has failed to provide the SEC with evidence it uses external revenue to pay affiliate withdrawal requests. Certainly they haven’t provided me with any such evidence in the emails they’ve sent.

The SEC reiterates that promotion of Ponzi schemes like Mining City are ‘strictly prohibited by law and may be penalized
by imprisonment and/or fine.’

Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of such unauthorized entities like the operators of the FB Page MINING CITY PHILIPPINES, BITCOIN VAULT INTERNATIONAL and Bitcoin Vault Philippines in selling or convincing people to invest in their investment scheme offered including solicitations and recruitment through the internet may likewise be criminally prosecuted and penalized with a maximum fine of Five Million pesos (P5,000,000.00) or a penalty of Twenty-one (21) years of imprisonment or both.

The Philippine SEC requests anyone aware of individuals promoting Mining City in the Philippines to report them.

Contact details are provided in disclaimer-advisory, which was uploaded to the SEC’s website on October 30th.