Quick Answer: Arete Financial Freedom’s back pay situation remains unresolved as the court-appointed receiver is not authorized to pay pre-receivership debts without further court order. Despite the company’s temporary victory allowing it to service accounts again, former employees must pursue back pay independently while the receiver handles only W-2 distributions.
While Arete Financial Freedom had a temporary victory yesterday and will be able to begin servicing previous consumer accounts again, employees will still have to search for back pay due.
The Receiver has posted:
“As you may know, the Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction, which included an asset freeze and appointment of a receiver. Pursuant to the Court’s orders, the Receiver is not authorized to pay any pre-receivership debts or obligations without further court order. The government has alleged consumer injury of more than $43 million and the assets frozen to date are a fraction of this amount. As such, the Receiver does not intend to seek an order to pay pre-receivership payroll.
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The Receiver has received several inquiries concerning W-2s from former employees. If you worked for Arete Financial Services, Paylocity, the payroll provider, will issue W-2s by January 31, 2020 via U.S. mail. If your mailing address has changed, please email your new address to info@regulatoryresolutions.com with the subject line “ARETE – W-2 ADDRESS CHANGE”.
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If you worked for Premier Solutions Servicing, the Receiver has contacted Wells Fargo, the payroll provider, and instructed them to issue W-2s. We expect Wells Fargo to issue W-2s by January 31, 2020. If your mailing address has changed, please email your new address to info@regulatoryresolutions.com with the subject line “PSS – W-2 ADDRESS CHANGE”.” – Source
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