Brea-based subprime mortgage lender ResMae Mortgage Corp. said Tuesday it’s filing for bankruptcy reorganization and selling its assets to Switzerland's Credit Suisse Group for $19 million.

It’s the latest bad news for the struggling subprime mortgage sector, which is heavily rooted in Orange County.

The market for subprime mortgages, which are made to borrowers with imperfect credit, “has recently been crippled and a number of companies stopped originating loans as U.S. housing sales have slowed and defaults by borrowers have risen,” ResMae said in its Chapter 11 filing, according to Bloomberg.

The asset sale to Credit Suisse is subject to bankruptcy court approval. Last month, Credit Suisse was said to be in talks to buy ResMae.

ResMae plans to continue doing business during the asset sale to Credit Suisse, which also is providing a credit line and operating funds to the company.

The move marks a dramatic turn for ResMae.

Jack Mayesh, Ed Resendez and Bill Komperda started ResMae in 2003. They previously ran Long Beach Financial Corp., a former unit of Orange-based ACC Capital Corp. that went public in 1997 and was bought in 1999 by Washington Mutual Inc., which still runs the operation from Anaheim.

ResMae grew quickly during the mortgage boom, raising more than $100 million in financing by 2005.

Investors include leverage buyout firm Texas Pacific Group, hedge fund TPG-Axon Capital Management LP, TH Lee Putnam Ventures and money manager Putnam Investments.

Two years ago, ResMae leased a 130,000-square-foot office building at Newport Beach-based Olen Properties Corp.’s Olen Pointe Brea.

The ResMae news is the latest to rock the subprime world.

On Monday, Irvine subprime lender ECC Capital Corp. was sold to Bear Stearns Cos. for $26 million, though the lender ended up paying Bear Stearns $7 million to close the deal.

ECC had borrowed $33 million from Bear Stearns to make loans, which it wasn’t able to sell to investors for as much as expected.