Yexel Sebastian asserts casino junket is ‘legit’ amid investment scam accusations

Yexel Sebastian (left) and Mikee Agustin. Image: Instagram/@yexelsebastian

Yexel Sebastian has spoken up on the investment-scam accusations against him and his partner, former GirlTrends member Mikee Agustin, stressing that the casino junket—where the money they collected was supposedly invested in—is “legitimate.”

Several individuals earlier reached out to Sen. Raffy Tulfo to air their complaints against Sebastian and Agustin, as seen in an episode of “Wanted sa Radyo” on Saturday, Oct. 7. The pair allegedly collected hundreds of millions of pesos in investments from the complainants, then later stopped communicating with the latter.

In a phone interview during Tulfo’s program, Sebastian claimed that he and Agustin were investors as well and that the company where the complainants’ money were invested in is owned by a certain Hector Pantollana.

“Siguro panahon na para ipagtanggol ko ang sarili ko at buo kong pamilya,” Sebastian said via his Facebook page on Tuesday, Oct. 10. “Ayaw ko sana magsalita dahil kahit magmukha kaming masama at basura sa buong Pilipinas ay tatanggapin ko maiayos 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,” he continued, referring to his partner and their son.

Sebastian then showed a video he took in April last year during a ribbon-cutting event of a casino junket led by Pantollana in Clark, Pampanga.

“After ribbon-cutting, nagkaroon ng malaking event kung saan pinasalamatan ni Boss HP, a.k.a. Hector Pantollana, lahat ng matataas na tao sa casino at iba pang casino branches,” Sebastian said.

“Legit ang junket. Legit lahat ang tao, at legit ang operation. Hindi ‘yan mapepeke ng kahit sino dahil hindi ka magkaka-branch sa isang casino na legal, para magka-junket kung illegal ito,” the vlogger stressed.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) earlier confirmed during a Senate hearing that Sebastian and Agustin were able to fly to Japan on Monday, Oct. 9, as there were no hold departure order issued against the couple.  /ra