Stanford, flamboyant Texan, faces media glare

Reuters ^ | Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:06pm ES | Jason Szep

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BOSTON (Reuters) - Just three weeks ago, Allen Stanford was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in British sport. Now, the Texas billionaire is at the center of the latest investigation by Wall Street regulators.

In recent years, the flamboyant 58-year-old financier and cricket mogul has seldom strayed far from controversy -- from tangling with leaders of Antigua where he is the biggest single investor to ruffling the well-mannered world of international cricket by cavorting with the players' girlfriends.

Once described as "haughty, arrogant and obnoxious" by Antiguan Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, America's 205th richest man often walks a fine line between critics and admirers in a business and sporting empire that reaches well beyond Texas to Europe and across the Caribbean.

"Allen enjoys life and is the kind of person that doesn't worry about what other people think," said David LeBoeuf, a Texas home builder who went to school with Stanford and counts him as one of his closest friends.

"Larger than life is one way to describe him but he's also an extremely talented, unique and hard-working individual," he said in an interview. "If you are one his friends and he cares about you, he'll do quite a bit for you and be there for you."

The tall, mustached Texan is facing the glare of the media anew as his $50 billion investment operation, Stanford Group Co, comes under investigation by U.S. regulators at a time when Bernard Madoff's suspected $50 billion fraud has put regulators and investors on high-alert for any whiff of wrongdoing.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority are examining sales of certificates of deposit in its affiliated, Antigua-based offshore bank ............

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another Madoff type scandal....see the latest using the keyword Stanford

Maybe as big.

[org.whodat]

You people need to get off the backs of these wealthy business men, I'm really getting tired of your wealth envy.

ROFLOL!!!!

[agere_contra]

“flamboyant” - is that code?

[org.whodat]

David LeBoeuf, needs looked at as well!!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From WSJ:

Stanford Financial Gets More Scrutiny

********************************EXCERPT******************

FEBRUARY 14, 2009

An investigation into wealthy financier R. Allen Stanford's operations is intensifying, with the FBI looking into his financial group in the U.S. and regulators in Antigua scheduled to visit his bank there.

Stanford Financial Group Co., which has more than 30,000 investors, has been recently advising clients that they can't redeem their CDs for two months...............

[org.whodat]

Texan-born billionaire Sir Allen Stanford’s corporate website claims that, after he became a citizen of the Commonwealth territory of Antigua, it appointed him a ‘Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of the Nation’.

Wonder if he can get him to give him a pardon next. LOL

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082378/Palace-row-crickets-Sir-Allen-knighthood.html

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From Businessweek:

Is Stanford Financial's Offer Too Good to Be True?

*************************EXCERPT**************************

February 11, 2009, 4:22PM EST

Regulators are eyeing the high-flying firm, whose CDs offer returns more than double the market average

By Matthew Goldstein

Financier R. Allen Stanford makes investors an enticing offer: He sells supposedly super-safe certificates of deposit with interest rates more than twice the market average. His firm says it generates the impressive returns by investing the CD money largely in corporate stocks, real estate, hedge funds, and precious metals.

But skeptical federal and state regulators are now taking a hard look at Stanford's operation—especially those CDs, whose underlying investments seem questionable. Over the past 12 months, the stock market and hedge funds have lost huge amounts of value even as Houston-based Stanford Financial Group continued to pay out above-average returns and claimed to have boosted the assets it oversees by 30%, to more than $50 billion.

BusinessWeek has learned that the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a major private-sector oversight body, are all investigating Stanford Financial. The probes focus on the high-yield CDs and the investment strategy behind them. According to people close to the investigations, the three agencies are also looking at how Stanford Financial could afford to give employees large bonuses, luxury cars, and expensive vacations. Selling CDs typically is a low-margin business.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Seems to be a number of folks using that name.

[TheZMan]

I want to know where the hell these “regulators” have been for the last decade.

Now that everything is crashing down around us they’re actually out doing their job.

Pure genius.

[SueRae]

Any party affiliations? I’m assuming he’s a Democrat because it’s not in the article..

[Redbob]

What would be the point of being filthy rich if you couldn’t be haughty, arrogant, and obnoxious?

[jimbo123]

Some noteworthy contributions:

STANFORD, R ALLEN ALLEN
HOUSTON,TX 77056 STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP/PRESIDENT 2/3/08 $2,300 Rangel, Charles B (D)

STANFORD, R ALLEN
MIAMI,FL 33131 STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP/CHAIRMAN 5/31/08 $4,600 Obama, Barack (D)

STANFORD, R ALLEN
HOUSTON,TX 77056 STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP 7/2/03 $1,000 Schumer, Charles E (D)

STANFORD, R ALLEN
HOUSTON,TX 77056 STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP 7/2/03 $1,000 Schumer, Charles E (D)

STANFORD, R ALLEN
HOUSTON,TX 77056 STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP 5/31/02 $1,000 Schumer, Charles E (D)

STANFORD, R ALLEN
HOUSTON,TX 77056 STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP 5/31/02 $1,000 Schumer, Charles E (D)

STANFORD, R ALLEN
MIAMI,FL 33131 STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP 6/3/03 $1,000 Reid, Harry (D)

[Chet 99]

Sam Walton never got that memo.

[Night Hides Not]

I wonder if institutions like his are the source of breathless claims offered by investment salesman on weekend talk radio.

My skin crawls when I hear these "investment advisors" offering 31% guaranteed for the first year, or 7+% "guaranteed" for ten years.

How in the heck can such claims be made in this environment?

[Ciganina]

STANFORD, R ALLEN ALLEN MR
HOUSTON,TX 77056 INFO REQUESTED 10/11/02 $100,000 NRCC/Non-Federal 2 (R)

This guy obviously hedges his bets.

[Marine_Uncle]

Doesn’t sound good obviously. Heaven only knows how many more big scandals will surface in the days to come.

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, if I had run a Ponzi scheme, I might have my name in the papers by now, and very little else done to me; had I as governor solicited bribes for senatorial appointments, I’d have become a huge celebrity despite having been impeached; had I been appointed to the senate by a corrupt governor, I’d have gotten away with perjury; had I not paid my taxes I could have had some kind of a fat gov’t paycheck in the new administration...

But, as you all no doubt have guessed — I missed those booths on career day.

Thanks Ernest.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I missed those booths on career day.

ROFL!

Well,....that's life!