United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit _____________ United States Court of Appeals No. 23-11237 Fifth Circuit

consolidated with FILED No. 24-10004 April 17, 2025 _____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk Securities and Exchange Commission,

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus Timothy Barton,

Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas USDC Nos. 3:22-CV-2118, 3:22-CV-2118 ______________________________ Before Higginbotham and Willett, Circuit Judges. Don R. Willett, Circuit Judge:* This case involves a receivership and preliminary injunction in an ongoing securities enforcement action. Timothy Barton was involved in a scheme to develop underutilized land with assistance from loans given by Chinese nationals. Eventually, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice opened parallel civil and criminal proceedings _____________________ * This appeal is being decided by a quorum. 28 U.S.C. § 46(d). Case: 23-11237 Document: 115-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/17/2025

No. 23-11237 c/w No. 24-10004 against Barton and his associates. As relevant here, the SEC alleged violations of antifraud provisions of the Securities Act, 17 U.S.C. § 77q(a), and the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b). In an effort to preserve lenders’ assets, the SEC sought a receivership. Barton now appeals various district- court orders imposing and administering a receivership and preliminary injunction freezing Barton’s assets (those which were not included in the receivership). He also requests reassignment of the case on remand. As there was no abuse of discretion by the district court, we AFFIRM the imposition and scope of the receivership and the grant of a preliminary injunction. We DISMISS Barton’s appeal of certain orders administering the receivership for lack of jurisdiction. And we DENY Barton’s request to reassign the case to another district-court judge. I In 1990, Timothy Barton founded JMJ Development, an entity focused on developing “underutilized land into single family homes, apartments, and hotels.” Since then, Barton and JMJ Development have engaged in “major, revenue-producing projects.” Nearly thirty years later, in 2017, Barton worked with Texas builder Stephen Wall and Chinese businessman Haoqiang Fu to offer investment opportunities to Chinese investors. To implement this scheme, they established a series of special-purpose entities, each responsible for funding the purchase and development of a specific parcel of land. The SEC refers to these as “Wall Entities.” And in pitching the project to Chinese nationals, Barton, Fu, and Wall highlighted it as an opportunity for them to “invest to avoid risk” and attain “higher profit[s] than overseas bond investment[.]” Those who participated were promised a high fixed rate of interest—10%— in exchange for their loans.

2 Case: 23-11237 Document: 115-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 04/17/2025

No. 23-11237 c/w No