Mica Tan stays on case settlement path

Amid interpol hunt

MANILA, Philippines — Despite being issued an International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) red notice, MFT Group of Companies chief executive officer Maria Francesca Tan, whose current whereabouts remain unknown, is staying firm on her resolve to settle its case with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and address obligations with creditors.

The STAR learned that Tan, who is being linked to a massive investment fraud, called for a meeting with creditors after reports came out last week that a red notice against her has been issued by the Interpol.

Tan acknowledged the red notice issuance, saying that her legal teams are fully engaged, completely mobilized and exhausting every single legal remedy available across all relevant jurisdictions.

She said these cross-border procedural measures are being systematically addressed.

“I am availing myself of every statutory protection. This is a highly technical legal process. It is not a final conclusion. There are remedies, and there are steps, and I urge everyone on this call not to get bogged down in what-ifs,” Tan said.

“I am here, and I’m standing here, facing this head-on in the practical and safe way I know I can, a way that can get us to recovery. The actions I’m taking every single day are exclusively those that will lead to recovery and repayment. That’s all I want and that is all I can do,” she said.

Tan, however, reiterated that while she is doing everything within her power to ensure that the obligations are paid, she cannot do it in a vacuum and won’t be able to do so if she is unable to work properly.

She said it also does not help anybody “if the worst case happens.”

“And to ensure that every single person on this call recovers what is theirs, I need your help. I need the space and the safety to continue working without being paralyzed by external pressures every day,” she said.

Tan said resolving the SEC case is her number one priority at present.

“The ultimate objective of mine is to resolve the SEC case, and the only thing that is blocking that is the non-bailable baseless cases that have been filed. Those are the syndicated estafa ones. We will continue working on all legal remedies to get that resolved, so that we can properly also resolve the SEC case,” she said.

In a resolution in May last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted MFT Group of Companies Inc., Foundry Ventures I Inc., and their respective officers for their unauthorized solicitation of investments from the public, following a case buildup by the SEC.

The case stemmed from a criminal complaint filed by the SEC before the DOJ in April 2024 against the MFT Group and Foundry Ventures over their illegal investment-taking activities.

The SEC said Tan currently has a standing warrant of arrest issued by Taguig Regional Trial Court Branch 70 for violations of Sections 8, 26 and 28 of Republic Act 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code, in relation to RA 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

The commission said a court in Lipa City, Batangas has likewise issued an arrest warrant against Tan in March 2025 for syndicated estafa, with no bail recommended.

In a bid to bring Tan before the Philippine courts over her alleged role in a large-scale fraudulent investment scheme, the SEC earlier requested the Interpol to issue a red notice.

The red notice, which is based on an arrest warrant or court order issued by judicial authorities in the requesting country, serves as a request to law enforcement globally to locate and provisionally arrest a wanted individual pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.