PORT ST. LUCIE — The Securities and Exchange Commission has frozen the assets of absentee City Center developer Lily Zhong, the agency announced Thursday.
It was unclear Thursday how much of Zhong’s money is involved.
The SEC alleges Zhong used money from foreign investors, intended for Port St. Lucie’s City Center and residential projects in Palm Bay, to purchase luxury cars and a boat. The SEC claims Zhong fraudulently raised at least $8.5 million from at least 17 investors between March 2011 and August 2014 through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program, and diverted nearly $1 million to buy a 48-foot boat, a BMW for her daughter and a Mercedes-Benz, according to the SEC’s 23-page complaint, filed Nov. 3 in federal court in Miami.