Justice Watch: Department of Justice fights for $330 million in foreign Stanford proceeds
When it comes to laying claim to the lucrative remains of fallen fraud empires, the DOJ is certain it can serve victims better than expensive court-appointed receivers, trustees or liquidators.
John Pacenti
When it comes to laying claim to the lucrative remains of fallen fraud empires, the Justice Department is certain it can serve victims better than expensive court-appointed receivers, trustees or liquidators.
Even before R. Allen Stanford’s fraud conviction last week, the Justice Department was fighting the joint liquidators for his defunct financial empire for $330 million in three countries: Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Stanford Investors Endure ‘Living Hell’ on Eve of Trial
By Andrew Harris and Laurel Brubaker Calkins
(Updates with fee summary in sixth, seventh paragraphs.)
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) — R. Allen Stanford’s investors, after waiting three years to see the Texas financier go to trial on charges of leading a $7 billion fraud, must hold on even longer before learning when they will get some of their money back.
Stanford’s customers have received nothing since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed his businesses in February 2009.
New claims process slated for Stanford bank victims
by Patsy R. Brumfield/NEMS Daily Journal
01.18.12 – 04:39 pm
Investors who lost money in the failure of Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd. should submit formal claims, its liquidator said Wednesday.
More than 30,000 investors worldwide lost more than $7.2 billion when the bank and the Stanford Financial Group empire collapsed in 2009 under a fraud investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Stanford Liquidators Ask Fraud Victims to File Claims for Money
By Kit Chellel – Jan 18, 2012
Liquidators of R. Allen Stanford’s Antigua-based bank said investors who lost money in the alleged $7 billion fraud should submit formal claims to creditors.
Grant Thornton LLP, appointed by an Antiguan court to wind up Stanford International Bank, said creditors and victims needed to complete and submit a claim form if they wanted to receive distributions from the liquidators.
Battle Heats Up Between Stanford Receiver and Antiguan Liquidators
By Julie Triedman
December 09, 2011
Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver leading U.S. efforts to recover worldwide assets of alleged Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford’s empire, is suddenly facing a new challenge: a revived Stanford bank liquidation proceeding in Antigua.
On Dec. 5 the joint liquidators for Stanford International Bank, the Stanford-owned bank in Antigua that issued bogus CDs to investors, filed a renewed motion for the Antiguan proceedings to be recognized as the authoritative Stanford insolvency. Dallas federal district court judge David Godbey, who is overseeing the U.S. receivership, will hear arguments on Dec. 21.
Read more →
Stanford Judge Says Receiver May Need to Wind Down Search
By Laurel Brubaker Calkins and Andrew Harris – Oct 13, 2011 7:35 PM ET·
R. Allen Stanford’s court-appointed receiver may need to stop searching for a secret “pot of gold” and pay defrauded investors from the assets he has recovered so far, the judge overseeing the case said.
“I’m concerned the receiver is expending resources that could otherwise be distributed to investors trying to track down missing resources,” U.S. District Judge David Godbey said during a hearing today in Dallas for dozens of Stanford-related civil cases.
Stanford, 61, was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2009 on claims he swindled investors of more than $7 billion through allegedly bogus certificates of deposit at his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank. Read more →
INTERVIEW-Stanford bank liquidators seek assets recovery deal
INTERVIEW-Stanford bank liquidators seek assets recovery deal
* Say in talks with U.S. receiver on common claims process
* Victims face delays, disputes over getting money back
* Liquidators asking U.S. DOJ to end Swiss accounts freeze
By Pascal Fletcher
MIAMI, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The liquidators of accused Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford’s bank in Antigua are seeking to cut a deal with a U.S. receiver to recover assets for thousands of fraud victims and end a legal turf war entangling the process.
More than 12,000 claimants say they were bilked by the $7 billion scam U.S. prosecutors allege was masterminded by the flamboyant Texas one-time billionaire and sports entrepreneur, whose business empire stretched to the Caribbean and Europe. Arrested in 2009, he denies wrongdoing and is awaiting trial.
Many of his victims have complained that wrangling over jurisdiction between the liquidators appointed by an Antiguan court and the U.S. receiver has hindered the already complex and difficult task of recovering assets from the web of Stanford’s businesses and bank accounts across the world. Read more →
Stanford Bank Liquidators Dispute Predecessor’s $18 Million Fee
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) — The firm originally appointed to wind up R. Allen Stanford’s bank charged $18 million in fees while recovering around $300,000 for victims of the fraud, according Grant Thornton LLP, the bank’s new liquidator which is seeking to have the bill reduced.
Investors question Antigua Stanford liquidators
TEXAS, United States, Thursday August 18, 2011 – Following a recent decision by a London court authorizing the Antiguan liquidators of Stanford International Bank (SIB) to spend up to US$20 million of funds frozen in the U.K, a US court-appointed investors committee has asked the Antiguan liquidators to account for all recoveries and expenses since the liquidation was initiated in February 2009.
The Stanford Investors Committee asked Marcus Wide and Hugh Dickson of accounting firm Grant Thornton to provide a full accounting of all recoveries and expenses, both paid and unpaid; a comprehensive list of remaining assets in the SIB estate and the estimated value; and the action plan cited in their request to the U.K. court to obtain access to the frozen funds.