The SEC obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of a Texas resident and his company.   He was charged with falsely telling investors he was using their money to buy and restructure pools of non-performing home mortgages in the wake of the housing market’s decline. SEC Allegations. James “Jay” Temme and Stewardship Fund LP raised at least $35mn since 2008 from various investor groups.  To lure those investors, Temme developed relationships with people who then vouched for him - e.g., an investment adviser representative with a major investment bank’s private wealth management group, and a TX-based public company that provides mortgage restructuring services. Investors and their advisers, including the bank representative, were told their money would be used to purchase “tapes” of non-performing mortgages from mortgage lenders at a discount, which then would pay returns based on principal and interest payments collected from homeowners, or based on the resale of the mortgages or underlying properties. In several instances, Temme never acquired the mortgages he claimed to own;  in other cases, he purportedly transferred the same pool of mortgages to multiple sets of investors.  To carry out his scheme, Temme created false documents, made unauthorized financial transactions, and used new investor funds to pay off earlier investors. Temme has been the subject of at least one state court asset freeze and various private lawsuits by different investor groups.  However, rather than stopping his scheme, Temme ignored the asset freezes, opened new bank accounts, and raised money from new investors to settle suits filed by earlier investors.   For further details, go to:   [SEC PR 11-213, 10/18/11]