Cebu BPO blames agents as execs face $44Mn U.S. fraud charges
SAN DIEGO, UNITED STATES — Two Cebu-based business process outsourcing (BPO) executives, Michael Sordilla and Bryan Tarosa, are at the center of a legal battle in the United States, accused of participating in a $44 million fraud scheme targeting over 800 elderly writers.
Innocentrix Philippines, the company they represent, vehemently denies the allegations, pointing fingers at rogue sales agents for the fraudulent activities.
The case has drawn the attention of the Philippine government, with calls for intervention to secure the executives’ release.
Allegations and denials: Innocentrix Philippines case
Michael Sordilla established Innocentrix Philippines in 2019 to provide BPO services for national and global clients.
As a BPO company, Innocentrix Philippines provides service lines to clients, such as offering software development alongside system advancement capabilities, online voter technology and e-tabulation services, element-presenting graphic design capabilities and creative solutions, and crafting content writing and marketing solutions for clients.
The executives of Innocentrix affirm that Sordilla and Tarosa had no role in the fraudulent acts, instead blaming the company’s agents for defrauding hundreds of elderly authors.
Oliver Baclay Jr., their legal counsel, said in a press conference, “Mike denies, and vehemently denies, any adult criminal liability.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), alongside the United States Postal Inspection Service, conducted an investigation into a scheme that involved the executives from September 2017 to December 2024.
Clients registered most complaints between 2019 and 2021 when the company adopted the work-from-home model due to the pandemic, thereby tightening supervision and prompting security risks.
Legal defense and Philippine government’s potential role
The legal counsel for Sordilla and Tarosa, Oliver Baclay Jr., has expressed confidence in their eventual return to the Philippines, expecting a big chance of their release.
However, the timing remains uncertain due to the complexities of the U.S. judicial process. The defense establishes its basis in an argument that unauthorized sales agents’ actions led to fraudulent behavior beyond what the company had authorized.
Baclay also emphasized that despite the gravity of the charges, under U.S. law, all individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Furthermore, the circumstances of Sordilla’s arrest have been questioned, with claims that he was “forcefully grabbed” without explanation, the Daily Tribune reports.
Baclay appealed during a press conference to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to assist in securing the immediate release of the two men from the United States detention facility.
He hoped that the matter would reach DFA, who he thinks could do executive-level negotiations with the U.S.
In a separate news story by Cebu Daily News, according to the DOJ, Sordilla and Tarosa supported the fraudulent operation from the Philippines by recruiting authors and persuading them to pay large sums for services, including tax clearances, production, and marketing tie-ups with film studios.
Federal law requires the convicted to serve a prison term of up to 20 years for committing fraud in the United States.
