Allen Stanford Charged By SEC For Multi-Billion Dollar Fraud

RECENT UPDATES:

It looks like the SEC missed several red flags on Stanford, much as they did with Bernie Madoff. According to the New York Times, the SEC found several securities violations over the years, "but each time the regulators ultimately let the company off with relatively small fines, records show."

The same seems to have gone for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA. The Financial Times reports that the agency levied several small fines on Stanford's companies, including for its faulty advertising of its CD's - the sale of which are the source of the current fraud charges - but never took any larger action.

The Times of London also has a report on Charlesworth Hewlett, the British accountant performed the financial audits for Stanford's $50 billion business.

FULL STORY:

The SEC charged Sir Allen Stanford and three of his companies with "massive fraud" centering on an $8 billion CD program.

From the AP:

Federal regulators are charging R. Allen Stanford and three of his companies with a "massive" fraud that centered around high-interest-rate CDs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges that Stanford International Bank sold about $8 billion of so-called certificates of deposit to investors by promising "improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates."

The rates allegedly allowed the bank to achieve double-digit returns on its investments for the past 15 years. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor entered a temporary restraining order and froze Stanford's assets.

Meanwhile, Over the last ten years, Stanford and his companies have spent at least $5 million on lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions to a bipartisan group of congressional leaders.

For the seven most shocking allegations, in the SEC complaint, check here.

The Huffington Post intends to dig deeper into this story, and we need your help. If you have invested with Stanford or know about the bank's business practices, we want to hear from you. Email us at [e-mail].

If you have invested with Stanford, let us know about your returns on investment. Have you tried to get your money back and been rebuffed? What have you been told about the bank's portfolio? How long have you been invested with him?

If you know Stanford personally, tell us about him.

Email your insights to [e-mail].

Read the entire SEC complaint below.

Stanford Complaint - Get more Business Documents

Comments

[Grannysue]

01:05 PM on 02/19/2009

So yet another one who has taken advantage of people while the SEC (Sleeping Economic Clowns) stood by and did nothing. The entire SEC staff needs to be canned!

[jeffp26]

01:04 PM on 02/19/2009

To quote harry Markopolos: The SEC is inept, and FINRA is corrupt.

Mary Schapiro, new head of the SEC, ran FINRA for the last 12 years.

So, investors, bend over please.

[ebanks84]

10:44 AM on 02/19/2009

It took innocence to invade the corporate greed that this country has been built on and turn it upside down in the republicans' face. Pray tell that the real criminals are alive and well and walking the streets of America, not in our jails. We should release all the prisoners we hold for robbery, thievery and stealing of any kind because their crimes are too petty to be behind bars and we need the room for the big time crooks we're going after now.

[HighInfoVoter]

12:49 PM on 02/18/2009

Sir? Oh Please! His Antiguan title is as impressive as a Tennessee Colonel's.

[tmo7734]

12:46 AM on 02/18/2009

Geeze Louise, will this crap ever end?

[flatus]

12:34 AM on 02/18/2009

Will someone remind me why we don't execute these people for the aggregate misery caused?

[MarkInEugene]

09:38 PM on 02/17/2009

It's time the people spoke out against wealthy sharks who get away with this! Just one of these AH does more damage than a thousand petty thieves.

Dont miss FRONTLINE tonight!

[icemilkcoffee]

09:37 PM on 02/17/2009

Oh- let me guess- they are going to let him stay in his resort in Antiqua, and give him all the time in the world to squirrel away his loot with his family and friends?

[kid5rivers2]

08:48 PM on 02/17/2009

When you run ALLEN STANFORD through the anagrammer, the biggest word you get is RALLENTANDO. Which means:
adjective
1. gradually decreasing in tempo

adverb
1. slowing down; "this passage should be played rallentando"

That figures! For they've now caught up with him!

[rockyb26]

08:46 PM on 02/17/2009

The perspective from Houston:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6266846.html

His Houston offices were raided today and Cornyn may be involved. I think the repubs here are losing their minds tonight.

[magibrotherhood]

12:23 PM on 02/19/2009

C.ornyn "may be " involved------there`s no may be about it --------GOTTCHA.

[chicagoike]

08:26 PM on 02/17/2009

Drip, Drip, Drip, enough already, bust them all right now. I'm sure that the Feds know a lot more of these guys, but they are afraid to bust them thereby bring a run on the banks.

[not going2take it]

11:09 PM on 02/17/2009

I think that you are right - we are simply buying time - literally.

It just smells like a big stinking t u r d.

[kid5rivers2]

08:10 PM on 02/17/2009

Is it possible that http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Revelation+18 is happening?

[whaddaya]

08:55 PM on 02/17/2009

No, unless you see the 21st century as the first century CE. Besides, Bablylon is inland. No sea within a stone's throw, angel or no angel. Revelation is allegorical, not apocalyptic.

[munki]

08:03 PM on 02/17/2009

Pathetic...
Just get our money back!

[JohnSawyer]

08:01 PM on 02/17/2009

So the SEC finally does something about one of the crooks. Maybe this will be a trend.

But as philopatris commented here earlier: "The SEC and FINRA corruptly and incompetently ignored two and a half years of warnings against Stanford until he was brought down in public by a blogger, Alex Dalmady, just like Markopolos tried and failed to bring down Madoff. Dalmady was successful because after Madoff he knew what to look for and everybody who read it knew what he had found."

Which is further proof that evidence against people like this, should be made public by the people who have the evidence, as soon as they have it, rather than file a complaint in secret with the so-called "regulatory agencies".

Populism works better than unregulated regulators. Shaming them into doing their jobs is the only thing that works.

[norkas]

08:39 PM on 02/17/2009

The SEC knew about the Madoff fraud in 1999 and every year after .

They did nothing because NYC knows how to cover up MASSIVE FRAUDS.

Power in NYC allows you do get away with any MASSIVE FRAUD.

NYC will only learn and change if the wealthy and others destroyed by these frauds make sure they lobby for NO one to spend a dime in NYC or even visit.

I have seen how NYC covers up billion dollar frauds and it will NEVER stop untill all of NEW YORK CITY gets hit in there pockets big time.

Welcome to NYC the city of massive fraud cover ups

[magibrotherhood]

12:25 PM on 02/19/2009

time to send the feds up b loomberg`s a$$------

[IllinoisTexan43]

07:42 PM on 02/17/2009

I was going to post how the apologists will say buh,buh,but he donated money. And suuuure enough, our friend JulieSA couldn't get there fast enough. I don't care how much you donate, fraud and theft is wrong and is illegal, period.

[JulieSA]

10:29 PM on 02/17/2009

Who said that fraud and theft are ok?

[JulieSA]

10:44 PM on 02/17/2009

What are you talking about? You think it's ok what Stanford is alleged to have done?