Actor Luis Manzano was facing a big challenge after being tagged to a complaint filed by 100 people who invested in a fuel company that turned out to be a fraud.
Several investors filed a complaint against Manzano after they invested millions of pesos in Flex Fuel Corporation.
They also filed a complaint against Ildefonso “Bong” Medel Jr, who’s the CEO of ICM Group of Companies that own the fuel company.
According to the complaint, they invested around P990,000 because they were confident that they’re convinced that they’re investing in the company of Manzano who’s a popular and successful celebrity in the Philippines.
“We invested because of Luis Manzano. His message during a Zoom conference in 2020 resonated with us. We trusted in Flex Fuel because his name was attached to it,” one of the complainants said according to the report of Bilyonaryo.
The complainants also said that Manzano started to distance himself from the company after investors started to complain that their investments were failing already.
In some promotional photos and videos by the said company, Manzano has been introduced as the ‘Chairman/Owner’ and promotional materials urged interested investors to ‘do business’ with the actor.
Several vlogs also tagged Manzano as the owner of the said company, but the actor denied it and asked NBI’s help to clear his name.
In a letter published by Bilyonaryo, Manzano defended himself saying that he already resigned from the company because of Medel’s failure to be transparent in his company.
The actor also insisted that he never took part in managing the company.
“Bong conducted the business in such a way that operational matters were kept away from me,” Manzano stated.
Manzano also claimed that Medel owes him P66-M.
As of writing, Manzano has yet to give a public statement about the issue.