JMJ Development’s Timothy Barton and Carnegie homes’ Stephen Wall (LinkedIn, Getty)
The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission has asked a federal judge to place hundreds of acres in North Texas into receivership pending the court proceedings over a Dallas developer’s alleged Ponzi scheme.
Last week, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas drew up federal charges against Dallas firm JMJ Development for allegedly scamming investors out of $26 million under the guise of North Texas property developments. CEO Tim Barton faces nine felony counts including securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a grand jury indictment. Barton, along with homebuilder Stephen Wall and Chinese businessman Michael Fu were separately accused by the SEC of misleading investors into buying securities issued by companies the three controlled, and then allegedly “misappropriat[ing] nearly all investor funds.”
Now, the SEC has requested the appointment of a receiver over some of the entities tied to the scheme, the Dallas Business Journal reports. Receiverships are cases in which a judge appoints a third party to locate and potentially liquidate properties in order to pay a judgment. The motion filed on Monday warned that there could be a “substantial risk to the value of the property interests if a steward is not put in place to protect them.”
“The SEC respectfully requests the Court to appoint a receiver over the Barton-controlled…
