Former ad exec found guilty of estafa

MANILA, Philippines — The Makati Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) has sentenced a former ad executive to up to two years imprisonment after finding him guilty of estafa.

In a 49-page court decision penned by Judge Clemente Clemente, former FCB Manila president and CEO Arnold Liong was found “guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of estafa defined and punished under Article 315 (2) (a) of the Revised Penal Code.”

In the Jan. 26, 2024 ruling, Liong was sentenced to a minimum prison term of four months to a maximum of two years, and was ordered to pay the complainant FCBManila Inc. over P2 million, with a yearly interest rate of six percent from the date of the decision until the amount is fully settled.

Liong was accused by Makati City prosecutors of “falsely representing to have incurred business related expenses and other expenditures that inured to the benefit of the complainant.”

According to the information filed by Assistant City Prosecutor Fides Victoria and approved by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Emmanuel Medina, Liong submitted “requests for payment and receipts for expense reimbursement, and by means of other similar deceits” and took advantage of his position as president/CEO of FCB Manila to authorize, approve and instruct the release of company funds as payment for expenses that were supposedly business related in connection to his position as consultant with the title of president and CEO, “knowing fully well that said representations are false and fraudulent.”

The estafa was committed from January to December 2013, with Liong filing claims for reimbursement of expenses of over P2 million that he allegedly advanced. The then-president and CEO approved his own claims and reimbursed himself with company checks for representation and other expenses that later turned out to be not company related.