The MFT Group of Companies (MFT Group) and its owners are asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to lift the cease and desist order issued against the company for alleged illegal solicitation of investments from the public.

In a statement, the firm said it has asked the SEC “to confirm the ‘automatic lifting’” of the CDO in an omnibus motion filed with the Commission En Banc on March 8, 2024.

MFT Group’s lawyers claimed that, “the SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection Department’s (EIPD) failure to file its Comment on time and the SEC En Banc’s failure to resolve the motion with the mandatory 10-day rule under its Rules of Procedure as the basis to declare that the temporary CDO previously issued is now deemed lifted.”

The SEC has yet to respond to MFT’s motion or press statement as this is a matter raised before the Commission En Banc which has yet to discuss the issue.

MFT Group said the timeline of events stated in the motion shows that the SEC issued the CDO on January 16, 2024, accusing the MFT Group of selling unregistered securities. In response, the company filed a Motion to Lift the CDO on January 23, 2024.

“The SEC asked the EIPD to comment or oppose by February 13, but it did not respond within the specified deadline,” MFT Group said.

MFT Group then filed a notice to withdraw their motion to lift on February 8, which was not approved until February 22. The firm said “The EIPD eventually filed their opposition to lifting the CDO on February 29, or 16 days past the deadline, without proffering any justification.”

“The SEC in turn had 10 days from February 13, or until February 23 to resolve the Motion to Lift CDO with or without EIPD’s comment. It has already been 10 days since the automatic lifting of the CDO, so MFT claims there is nothing more to make permanent,” it added.

MFT Group Spokesperson Atty. Estrella Elamparo said that, “How can the SEC resurrect and even make permanent a long dead CDO?”

Part of what the CDO restrains is any transaction in the bank accounts of the parties concerned, including their personal bank accounts.

“In a recent hearing with the Court of Appeals where the SEC was summoned, the SEC admitted it had no authority to freeze bank accounts. The SEC representative merely explained that the CDO is only addressed to MFT Group and the other respondents—not the banks,” MFT claimed.

It added that, “However, in a separate Order, the SEC clarified that the CDO is not just addressed to respondents but to the public—which includes banks”

“Perhaps it should be made clear that with each day that the bank accounts are frozen with no authority, the various businesses of MFT Group are severely crippled, and individual creditors and employees cannot get paid.

“Indeed, if the EIPD is taking up the cudgels for the creditors and wants them to get paid, the CDO produces the exact opposite effect. Because of the bank freeze, none of the creditors are currently being paid,” Elamparo pointed out.