SEC allowed to freeze assets of Florida payday lender

<p>WASHINGTON – The Securities and Exchange Commission recently filed an emergency enforcement action against ACE Payday Plus LLC, a start-up company purportedly offering “check cashing” and “payday advance” services. The SEC alleges that the company, its affiliates and its chief executive raised more than $800,000 from investors with promises of excessive investment returns and wildly optimistic profits. The SEC alleges that the defendants raised at least $800,000 from at least 30 investors by fraudulently offering and selling membership units in Ace Payday through telemarketers called “independent sales offices” or ISOs. The defendants allegedly project that the company’s payday loan operations will yield “an average of up to 360% profit per year” and that the company’s check cashing operations will generate “up to 720% per year.” A U.S. District Court in Miami granted the SEC’s request for a temporary restraining order and a freeze of the defendants’ assets. The court will hold a hearing on April 5 to hear the SEC’s request for a preliminary injunction against future violations of the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws.</p>