Filipino toy collector and social media influencer Yexel Sebastian, along with his wife Mikee Agustin, allegedly scammed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) for around 200 million pesos.
In one of the episodes of Raffy Tulfo In Action, the alleged victims of Sebastian had claimed that they were persuaded by him to invest money with the promise of getting 3%-5% of their initial investments. To make the scheme successful, they were required to deposit a minimum of up to 200 million-1 million. As the controversy popped up, Sebastian and Agustin flew to Japan last October 9.
Meanwhile, Sebastian denied the allegations that he and his wife are currently facing a lawsuit for their alleged investment scam. The Bureau of Immigration confirmed that the two personalities were able to leave the country as the victims haven’t filed a lawsuit against them yet, so they don’t have any derogatory records.
In a video posted on Facebook on October 10, Sebastian broke his silence and explained false claims against him and Agustin:
“Siguro panahon na para ipagtanggol ko ang sarili ko at buo kong pamilya. Ayaw ko sana magsalita dahil kahit magmukha kaming masama at basura sa buong Pilipinas ay tatanggapin ko maiyos lang nang malumanay at tahimik pero kabaligtaran ang nangyari naging sobrang ingay na. Pati kaligtasan namin ay nalagay na sa alanganin. Masakit makita ang buong pamilya mo na umiiyak para sa kaligtasan namin ni Mikee and Zyph kaya palagay ko ito na ang tamang panahon,” [It’s time to defend myself and my whole family. I don’t want to speak up because even if we appeared bad and looked like trash in the Philippines, I’d accept all the negative comments just to fix everything peacefully, but what happened was the opposite. Even our safety has been put at stake. It’s painful to see my family pleading for me, Mikee, and Zyph’s safety, so I think this is the right time.]
Sebastian added that there’s a legal process for everything. In another post, he said:
“Nakaalis kami ng bansa dahil wala po kami ni isang kaso at ‘yan naman po ay nasa batas,” he explained. “Meron pong due process ang lahat. Salamat.” [We were able to leave the country because there were no cases filed against us and that was under the law. Everything undergoes due process. Thank you.)
Meanwhile, netizens poked fun at Sebastian’s statements. Here are some of their comments:
Sebastian and Agustin claimed that the complainants’ money was invested in a casino junket owned by Hector Pantollana. The former made sure that the casino junket was legitimate as he and his wife attended its ribbon-cutting ceremony in Pampanga.
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