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’Stanford tries to surrender in Texas
Sir Allen Stanford, the Texas billionaire facing civil fraud charges, attempted to turn himself in at the federal courthouse in Houston on Thursday, but was turned away because there is no warrant for his arrest,
[The Stanford Series] Antiguan financial services providers launch PR offensive
After months of public silence and private hand-wringing, Antigua’s financial services sector finally responded (albeit obliquely) to the small matter of an alleged $8bn Ponzi scheme being operated in their midst.
[The Stanford Series] Frozen-out Stanford investors petition Congress
The Stanford Victims Coalition, a loose coalition of aggrieved investors in the Stanford Financial Group and Stanford International Bank (SIB), has petitioned the US Congress for investor protection under the SIPC insurance program.
Stanford denies Ponzi scheme
Billionaire Texan Allen Stanford said on Monday denined he ran a Ponzi scheme, as US regulators have charged, and asserted in what may be a preview of his defense that his companies were well-run until the government seized them in February,
[The Stanford Series] Stanford victims unite!
Not sure when this was set up but the forums make for particularly interesting reading.
Related links:
Locating Stanford billions will take five years – FT
Sir Allen speaks – FT Alphaville
Return sought of Stanford commissions
The US court-appointed official leading the effort to compensate victims of the alleged $8bn investment fraud by Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford is seeking to recover more than $40m of commissions paid to brokers who solicited clients across the US.
[The Stanford Series] Sir Allen speaks
Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire accused of an $8bn fraud, has petitioned a judge to thaw his assets so he can hire a lawyer, court documents released late on Tuesday show.
Sir Allen, the chief executive of the Stanford group of companies,
The week in securities litigation
Last week, US regulators warned of “rampant Ponzimonium”, and said they were investigating “hundreds” of possible scams in the aftermath of Madoff.
If the newsflow this week was any indication, those warnings might be more than merely hyperbolic.
[The Stanford Series] Ralph Janvey to Stanford employees: BYOB
Bring your own boxes, that is.
This statement was posted to the Stanford receiver’s website on Monday:
Final Opportunity to Remove Personal Belongings from 5050 Westheimer in Houston, Texas
Posted March 23,
Professional athletes and their money…
Are often parted.
Connie Loizos at peHUB on Monday highlighted a compelling piece of reporting by Sports Illustrated on the travails of professional athletes and their finances:
Did you know that by the time they’ve been retired from football for two years,
[The Stanford Series] IRS says Sir Allen owes $200m in back taxes
Not a day goes by without some sort of juicy court filing related to Sir Allen Stanford popping up on the Bloomberg.
Like this one, filed on Friday, in which the IRS asked for permission to seek unpaid back taxes from Sir Allen and his soon-to-be ex-wife Susan:
Stanford pleads fifth amendment
Sir Allen Stanford has refused to co-operate with the US government’s investigation into an alleged $8bn fraud at the companies that bear his name as it emerged that Stanford executives had expressed concern about the accuracy of the group’s financial statements weeks before US regulators made their move.
[The Stanford Series] Stanford pleading the fifth
Sir Allen Stanford is refusing to cooperate with the SEC’s investigation of his alleged $8bn fraud.
HOUSTON, March 11 (Reuters) – Allen Stanford, the billionaire Texan accused of an $8 billion fraud by U.S.
[The Stanford Series] Irony du jour
A juicy professional background report on Sir Allen Stanford has just landed in our inboxes (not commissioned by us, we’d add).
There’s lots in it, but this rather frivolous bit leapt out at us:
Per a March 12,
[The Stanford Series] Stanford’s US employees join the jobless queue
The court-appointed lawyer acting as the receiver for Sir Allen Stanford’s assets and businesses on Friday told 1,000 of the US-based employees that their jobs had been terminated.
These job cuts represent about 85 per cent of the Stanford Financial Group’s US employees,
[The Stanford Series] New details on alleged “massive Ponzi scheme”
Here are some of the amended allegations in the SEC’s filing, emphasis ours:
34. Contrary to SIB’s representations in the brochure about depositor security, SIB made, with Davis’s knowledge, at least $1.6 billion in undocumented “loans” to Stanford.
[The Stanford Series] From “investment fraud” to “massive Ponzi scheme”
The SEC has amended its complaint against R. Allen Stanford, Laura Pendergast-Holt and James Davies.
Here’s a summary of the allegations, emphasis FT Alphaville’s:
1. For at least a decade,
Warning on Stanford in 2003
A whistleblower contacted US regulators more than five years ago with allegations that Sir Allen Stanford’s businesses were involved in an “illegal Ponzi scheme”, the FT has learnt, raising new questions about why authorities waited until last week to shut down the alleged $8bn fraud.
[The Stanford Series] This land is our land, Antigua government to say
The government of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda will on Thursday declare its intention to seize more than 250 acres of land belonging to Sir Allen Stanford to help stabilise an economy thrown into turmoil by the $8bn fraud allegations against the Texan tycoon.
[The Stanford Series] Clients of Allen, by the numbers
Here at FT Alphaville we’ve questioned before the $50bn figure touted by Stanford Financial as total assets “under advisement”. Apart from the $8bn or so at SIB, we could find neither hide nor hair of the rest.
[The Stanford Series] The Stanford campaign donations: pay ‘em back, not forward
Why are Stanford’s campaign donations going to charity asked Felix Salmon over at Market Movers last week.
I can see why politicians would want to distance themselves from Stanford. But if he really is a fraudster,
[The Stanford Series] Eastern Caribbean Central Bank “takes control” of the Bank of Antigua
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the monetary authority for eight island nations including Antigua, on Friday assumed control of the Bank of Antigua, part of Sir Allen Stanford’s financial empire.
Bank of Antigua is a strictly domestic and retail operation with three branches on the island,
[The Stanford Series] SIB and Stanford Trust Company Limited put into receivership
Nigel Hanilton-Smith and Peter Wastell, Client Partners at Vantis Business Recovery Services, a division of Vantis, the UK accounting, tax and business advisory group, were appointed by the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) of Antigua and Barbuda as Joint Receivers on 19th February 2009 of Stanford International Bank Ltd.
FBI locates Stanford in Virginia
FBI agents located Sir Allen Stanford, whose whereabouts had been unknown since being charged this week by the SEC over an alleged $8bn fraud, in Virginia on Thursday and served the Texan billionaire with court orders relating to the SEC civil filing against his investment firm,
[The Stanford Series] But which passport will he surrender?
From Reuters:
Billionaire banker Allen Stanford was preparing to surrender his passport after the FBI served him with court papers accusing him of massive fraud, a law enforcement official said Thursday.
[The Stanford Series] Sir Allen Stanford, you’ve been served
“On February 19, 2009, at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Richmond Division located and identified Stanford Financial Group chairmanAllen Stanford in the Fredericksburg,
Savers besiege Stanford banks
Panicked savers on Wednesday rushed to withdraw money from banks in Antigua and Venezuela linked to Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire charged by US regulators with “massive” investment fraud.
[The Stanford Series] Stanford’s AIM foray
What’s more, there’s quite a lot of evidence to suggest that a lot of Stanford’s “investments” were in the kind of micro-cap stocks beloved of pump-and-dump operators. That’s not investing in something liquid and then seeing it freeze up,
[The Stanford Series] Stanford’s mysterious billions
The Stanford Financial empire is crumbling. And it is a very, very messy collapse. Not only do American regulators face the problem of the group’s size and complexity; they are also faced with the fact that the bulk of the Stanford companies are spread outside of the Unites States.
[The Stanford Series] What does the ‘F’ stand for in FINRA?
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, describes itself as “the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States.” It’s basically a private agency set up by the financial industry to regulate itself,