American National Cellular’s assets were frozen.

Responding to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. District Judge William J. Rea also appointed attorney Robert Baker to act as receiver for the Century City-based telephone application sales firm. The FTC contended that the company, which prepares applications for cellular telephone lotteries that the FCC conducts, misrepresented its operations to customers. Company President Michael Godfree called the FTC case against his company “baseless and without merit.”