Pearlasia Gamboa (born Elvira G. Gamboa) is a Filipino American business woman involved in controversial banking and investments, for which she has been successfully sued by the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

and various state agencies. She was connected to the

Dominion of Melchizedek The Dominion of Melchizedek (DoM) is a micronation known for facilitating large scale banking fraud in many parts of the world during the 1990s and early 2000s. Origin and status The Dominion of Melchizedek was unilaterally declared in 1990 by ...

, an unrecognized micronation that has been used as a front for fraudulent criminal activity.

Personal life

Gamboa was born Elvira G. Gamboa, in 1951, in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. She was married to Rocky Austin, but later divorced prior to 1993 and as of 2011 lived in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In 1994, she married Mark Logan Pedley, although there is some question as to whether this was legally registered. She has a daughter, Bernadette, and a son, Raymond, from her first marriage and she has a son, Hazemach, from her second.

Career

In 1994 companies run by Gamboa, and which were purporting to be banks, were prevented from operating in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and California.

Banking micronation

Gamboa was the president of the micronation known as the

, set up by her husband Mark Pedley. The micronation, which only exists in cyberspace, is a front for fraudulent criminal activity.

ZNext Mining

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took her to civil court over a company she owned, ZNext Mining, in 2009, alleging that she had used fictitious reports of gold mining operations to profit by fraudulently selling shares, siphoning off more than $1 million. She maintained that any fraudulent manipulation of stock prices was carried out by her husband without her knowledge. After Gamboa failed to appear in federal court to contest the government's accusations, a default judgment was ordered against her in August 2010 totaling $1.8 million; a $650,000 fine for the ZNext corporation, and $1.18 million for Gamboa personally. Gamboa was also permanently barred from selling penny stocks. In 2011, she said she had not paid the fine and was attempting to have the decision overturned. ZNext Mining was investigated by a multi-agency taskforce as part of

Operation Broken Trust ''Operation Broken Trust'', the largest investment fraud sweep by the Federal government of the United States, was conducted between August 16 and December 1, 2010. The stated purpose of the operation was to "root out and expose" investment scams w ...

, a US-wide operation in 2010 that targeted

investment fraud Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

. Although her husband Mark Pedley was charged, under the name Tzemach David Netzer Korem, and pleaded guilty, Gamboa was not.

Use of aliases

Gamboa has operated under various

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s, including Pearl Asian and Bae Katiguman, and Pearlasia.

Notes

:Gamboa's age was reported as 57 on 15 June 2009 and as 60 on 6 July 2011, which would mean she was born in 1951.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamboa, Pearlasia Living people American businesspeople American fraudsters Filipino emigrants to the United States Micronational leaders 1951 births