Allen Stanford Victims Speak Out

CBS' Harry Smith spoke with a Mark Tidwell, a former vice president at Stanford Financial, who is suing the company for wrongful termination.

Tidwell said he was first alerted to possible wrongdoing in May 2005, and summer of 2006. "They told us everything was fine," Tidwell said of the Stanford executives. "They said it was just part of a routine inquiry."

Smith also spoke with Kelly DeHay, an investor who had some 15% of his portfolio invested with Stanford, and Rod Danielson, who had 20% of his portfolio invested with the company.
Danielson first invested in the company's CDs in mid-2006. They told him that while the CDs weren't regulated by the US government, "they had higher reserve margins than US banks," and provided other assurances.

"Everything seemed reasonable," DeHay agreed.

When both investors tried to withdraw their funds after news broke of the SEC investigation into Stanford and his companies, they were told their accounts had been frozen for two months

"We thought these CDs were the safest thing in our portfolio," Danielson said, noting that other investments, like mutual funds and stocks were declining at such a rapid pace.
"It's a little horrifying," DeHay said of the experience.

WATCH:

Comments

[Merri]

I bet there are more victims out there, thanks to Sean Hannity's endorsement of Stanford Financial. These poor saps-Hannity listeners-take the word of an overpaid talk show host. Hannity is more than just a paid ad reader. There's more to this story. The FBI, FCC, and IRS must investigate his association with Stanford. He must be suspended from radio and television broadcasting while this investigation is ongoing.

[deepfreezevideo]

Open warfare on the American middle class.
That's what this is, what it was and what it's always been.
Believing anything else will cost you dearly as well but at least you can avoid that feeling of shock if you believe as I do.
To quote Edward G. Robinson: "What the rich want is.....MOR­E".

And they're going to get it even if they have to steal it from you outright in broad daylight "under color of law".

A few months ago I was accused of attempting to foment "liberal class warfare".
Surprise, it's always BEEN class warfare, only it was coming from the opposite direction.

It always has, till now.
Get ready for the response.

[Beernuts]

This is so much fun. Folks still believing there is a "bottom" out there, whether it be for real estate, their "portfolio", or any other investment. One more time: There is 600 trillion (yes, that's a T) of uncovered CDO bundled garbage out there. The last hook on the Ponzi scheme sucker line was swallowed and that was the going price. Last I noticed, the current value (as in selling price) of any of this junk was about $.14 on the dollar. My math tells me approximately 516 (T)rillion is gone. Whether you throw 780 Billion or 6 Trillion or 50 Trillion at the crater, what's left is a hole nobody is crawling out of, not one year from now, not in 2020. Only people making money these days are betting for a continued "fall" and they've got no place to go but (dare I say it?) the BOTTOM.

[RJII]

by scr@wing the middle/working class, the greedy rich just may have done us all in.

[cmarte]

surprising that the vp of the bank didn't have a clue? sounds a little odd.

[KennyFox]

They are paid not to have a clue.

[Beamin1]

Due diligence.­.. If your going to invest money you should try to AT LEAST find out what bank the company you want to invest in banks with....In this case it's a bank in Antigua...­. that should be all you need to know and if you knew it and still invested then you knew going into it that you were being greedy and taking a chance with your money.....­Nuff said.

[luckyoldson]

Geee, you might want to pass this "due diligence" strategy onto the millions of Americans who have lost their money via mutual funds, insurance companies, banks, investment firms, real estate and other investment vehicles..­.all operated by the biggest firms in the world.

Good lord...

[RJII]

say what?

[Rocky Dog]

All you need to know is the bank is Antigua? You think that is better or worse than Lehaman Brothers, CitiGroup, WaMu? I know some like to fear all things outside the US, but anyone who has a reasonably balanced portfolio has international exposure. In this case, a con was run - people world told their were higher reserves, bank operated in US currency, I'm sorry that we believed the documented information provided to us. I'm also sorry that the SEC knew of discrepancies in Stanford claims in 2001 and did nothing about it (several years before I became a victim). People can try to convict the victims -- but I don't think that is the course of action we should follow. How about asking why Stanford is living free in Virginia - ultimately I hope he ends up in an Antiguian prison.