Maria Francesca Tan Biography
Maria Francesca Tan was born on February 7, 1992, in Manila, Philippines. She is a businesswoman, and the founder and CEO of the MFT Group of Companies, Inc. and later Foundry Ventures I, Inc. She is accused of running a large-scale fraudulent investment scheme and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice issued at the request of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission. Maria Francesca Tan is 34 years old as of 2026.
That narrative began unraveling in 2024, when the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines filed a criminal complaint against her and her companies. By 2025 she had been indicted, arrest warrants had been issued by two separate courts, and Interpol had published a Red Notice at the SEC’s request — a global alert that transformed Tan from a local business controversy into an internationally wanted person. The woman who had marketed herself as a builder of wealth for everyday Filipino investors was now accused of running one of the most serious financial frauds the Philippine securities regulator had brought to court in recent years.
Maria Francesca Tan Career
Maria Francesca Tan’s professional identity was built around the MFT Group of Companies, Inc., the corporate vehicle she used to raise funds from investors across the Philippines. The MFT Group presented itself as a legitimate business conglomerate with subsidiaries engaged in various commercial activities, including purchase order financing — a form of short-term business lending where investors’ funds are supposedly deployed to finance the supply chain needs of the companies’ clients.
The investment products the group offered were marketed with guaranteed return rates of between 12 and 18 percent — numbers that, on their face, are attractive enough to appeal to middle-income Filipinos looking for better yields than bank savings deposits and time deposits offer, but high enough that any experienced financial regulator would scrutinize the underlying business model closely.
Tan was the public face of that enterprise, and she appears to have been effective at building the kind of personal credibility and corporate image that encourages people to part with their savings. The company later rebranded as Foundry Ventures I, Inc., a change that SEC prosecutors would later describe as part of the continuity of the same alleged fraudulent scheme under a new name rather than a genuine corporate transformation. She also served alongside other officers and executives within the MFT Group and Foundry Ventures structure, all of whom were subsequently indicted alongside her when state prosecutors moved forward with charges in May 2025.
What the SEC’s investigation ultimately alleged was that the investment-taking activities of the MFT Group and Foundry Ventures bore the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme — the type of investment fraud that generates apparent returns for early investors not through genuine business profits but through the contributions of new investors recruited into the pool.
In a Ponzi scheme, the underlying business model does not generate the returns it promises; it simply moves money from new participants to old ones, sustaining the illusion of profitability until the flow of new investment slows or stops, at which point the entire structure collapses and the most recent investors lose their principal. The SEC characterized the MFT Group’s operations in precisely these terms, arguing that the promised 12 to 18 percent returns were not being generated by legitimate purchase order financing but were instead funded by the continuous recruitment of new investors.
Maria Francesca Tan Controversies with Interpol
The most significant development in Maria Francesca Tan’s legal story is the Interpol Red Notice issued against her, announced by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission on May 25, 2026. A Red Notice is the closest instrument Interpol has to an international arrest warrant — it is a request circulated to law enforcement agencies in all 196 member countries to locate and provisionally arrest a wanted individual pending extradition, surrender, or equivalent legal action.
It is based on a valid arrest warrant or court order from the requesting country. The Red Notice does not compel any country to arrest the subject, but it alerts border authorities and law enforcement agencies worldwide to the person’s wanted status and makes international travel significantly more difficult and legally precarious.
The basis for the Red Notice is the standing arrest warrant issued by the Taguig City Regional Trial Court Branch 70, which charged Tan with violations of three sections of the Securities Regulation Code read in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act. Section 8 of the SRC prohibits the sale or offering of securities without a registration statement filed with and approved by the SEC.
Section 26.3 makes it unlawful to engage in any act, transaction, or course of business that operates as a fraud or deceit upon any person. Section 28 requires anyone engaged in buying or selling securities to be registered with the SEC as a broker or dealer. Tan’s investment program allegedly violated all three provisions simultaneously — unregistered securities, fraudulent misrepresentation of how funds would be used and what returns were achievable, and unlicensed securities dealing.
A second arrest warrant was issued in March 2025 by a court in Lipa City, Batangas, specifically for syndicated estafa — a particularly serious charge under Philippine law that applies when fraud is committed by a syndicate of five or more persons, and for which no bail is recommended. The syndicated estafa charge reflects the prosecution’s position that the MFT Group was not a lone operator but an organized group that collectively defrauded investors.
State prosecutors indicted Tan and her co-accused in May 2025, after the SEC’s criminal complaint, filed in April 2024, was reviewed and acted upon by the Department of Justice. The cascade of legal actions — SEC complaint, DOJ indictment, two arrest warrants, and now an Interpol Red Notice — represents one of the most comprehensive regulatory and prosecutorial responses to an investment fraud case in recent Philippine legal history. Tan has not publicly responded to the charges, and her current location remains unknown.
Conclusion
Maria Francesca Tan presented herself to the public as a builder of opportunity — a young Filipina CEO offering investors a share in her companies’ growth at returns that seemed almost too good to pass up. The SEC, the DOJ, and two Philippine courts have concluded that those returns were never real, that the investment scheme operated as a fraud, and that Tan must answer for that in court. The Interpol Red Notice means there is now nowhere in the world she can comfortably travel without risk of arrest. What remains is the question of whether the Philippine justice system can bring her back, and whether the investors who trusted her will ever recover what they lost.
FAQs
What is the Interpol Red Notice against Maria Francesca Tan for?
Interpol issued a Red Notice against Maria Francesca Tan on May 25, 2026, at the request of the Philippine SEC. The notice is based on arrest warrants issued by Philippine courts for violations of the Securities Regulation Code and the Cybercrime Prevention Act, as well as a separate warrant for syndicated estafa with no bail recommended issued by a Lipa City court in March 2025.
What did the MFT Group allegedly do?
The MFT Group of Companies, Inc. — and its successor entity Foundry Ventures I, Inc. — allegedly raised funds from investors by promising guaranteed returns of 12 to 18 percent, claiming the money would finance purchase orders for the companies’ subsidiaries. Philippine prosecutors alleged the scheme operated as a Ponzi scheme, using new investor contributions to pay returns to earlier investors rather than generating genuine business profits.
What charges does Maria Francesca Tan face?
Tan faces charges for violations of Sections 8, 26.3, and 28 of the Securities Regulation Code read in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act — covering unregistered securities, investment fraud, and unlicensed securities dealing. She also faces a charge of syndicated estafa before a Lipa City court, with no bail recommended. State prosecutors indicted her in May 2025.
Is Maria Francesca Tan currently in custody?
As of the time of writing, Maria Francesca Tan is not in custody. She is at large and her whereabouts are unknown to Philippine authorities. The Interpol Red Notice is designed to alert law enforcement agencies in 196 countries to locate and provisionally arrest her pending extradition or similar legal action.
Richardson Gray is a writer who specializes in legal and compliance basics for solopreneurs, as well as the growing second-hand and circular economy. With 21 years of experience, he has written extensively about business trends, sustainable consumption, and practical strategies for independent entrepreneurs. He holds both a BSc and an MSc in Economics, giving him a strong understanding of business systems, market behavior, and financial practices.
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