BI arrests American fugitive

MANILA, Philippines – An American stockbroker who allegedly pocketed half a million dollars from small investors in an investment scam would soon be deported back to the United States (US) to face an embezzlement case.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Marcelino Libanan yesterday said joint operatives from his agency, in coordination with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), apprehended Paulino Liong Wong, who uses the alias of Paul Wong.

The United States government, through it’s embassy, reportedly asked the two bureaus to locate and apprehend Wong who is reportedly involved in a large-scale investment scam.

In a statement, the BI said it received information that Wong has been hiding in the country for the last 17 years, or since 1991, and during that time has been an undocumented and overstaying alien.

The fugitive was arrested when he went to the US Embassy to follow up on the travel papers of his children. When he returns to the US, he would stand trial before a district court in New York that issued a warrant for his arrest in 1990. Wong was indicted and charged with wire fraud before the said court in January 1995, or five years after he fled to the Philippines to avoid prosecution for his crimes.

 Wong, who was born in the Philippines, reportedly committed the crime when he was still working as a stockbroker in New York in the late 1980s, wherein he reportedly pocketed an estimate of $500,000 from various customers of the Golden Harvest Fund, an investment club, of which $130,000 was allegedly wired to the Far East Bank in Manila in the name of his brother, a certain William Wong.

The US government has already reportedly revoked his American passport.