FBI in search for Stanford ‘victims’

FT ^ | 03/09/09 | Stacy-Marie Ishmael and Joanna Chung

[TigerLikesRooster]

FBI in search for Stanford ‘victims’

By Stacy-Marie Ishmael and Joanna Chung in New York

Published: March 9 2009 23:14 | Last updated: March 9 2009 23:14

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday it was seeking to identify potential “victims” who invested in a slew of companies associated with Sir Allen Stanford as part of an ongoing investigation.

The agency is seeking information from anyone who invested in either Stanford Financial Group or its affiliated companies – Stanford Capital Management, the Stanford Group Company, the Stanford International Bank, the Stanford Trust Company, and the Bank of Antigua.

“If someone has money that’s invested [with one of the listed] companies, they’re a potential victim, and they should get in touch with us,” agent Michael Anderson told the Financial Times.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I suspect many of Stanford's 'customers' are running criminal operations. They would be crazy to come out and talk to FBI.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[Brad from Tennessee]

LATIN AMERICAN HERALD TRIBUNE 3-9-09 (comprehensive story):

[. . .Congressman after Congressman has come out saying they are returning the money Stanford gave them. Senators Chris Dodd (Chairman, Senate Banking Committee, $27,500), Bill Nelson ($45,900), John McCain ($28,150), and even President Barack Obama ($4,600, but $31,750 firmwide) have all announced that they will be donating the money that Stanford gave them to charity. On the House side, Representative Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and who sponsored legislation that limited IRS audits in the Caribbean – where Stanford was having $100 million IRS back-taxes problems — said he would be donating the $10,800 he received to charity. . .the family of Vice President Joe Biden has been forced to offer to return $2.7 million to the receiver that Stanford had invested in a co-branded investment fund owned by Biden’s son and brother. The fund has offered to turn over the $2.7 million investment it received from Mr. Stanford's firm in 2007 to a court-appointed receiver in the SEC’s civil fraud case involving Mr. Stanford, according to Paradigm's attorney, Marc X. LoPresti. The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens’ Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, according to a lawyer for Paradigm. Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president's son, Hunter, and Joe Biden’s brother, James.]

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=328322&CategoryId=12394

[az_gila]

I suspect many of Stanford's ‘customers’ are running criminal operations. They would be crazy to come out and talk to FBI.

---

Or they “forgot” to mention foreign bank accounts on their IRS forms...:^)

[GOPJ]

I suspect many of Stanford's 'customers' are running criminal operations. They would be crazy to come out and talk to FBI.

Having some of those folks ripped off is the silver lining.

[SeaHawkFan]

I wonder just what “charities will be getting the donations; probably those with whom the yare associated. They should hand the money over to the feds to help repay t he victims of the criminal conduct.

[pointsal]

I wonder just what “charities will be getting the donations; probably those with whom the yare associated. They should hand the money over to the feds to help repay t he victims of the criminal conduct.

R. Emanuel & A. Rule charitable trust in Chicago might qualify as a recipient.

[Brad from Tennessee]

[They should hand the money over to the feds to help repay t he victims of the criminal conduct.]

You're exactly right. I imagine once the victims have lawyers they'll file motions for the court to seize this money from the politicians—who wittingly, or not, are now part of a criminal conspiracy. I wouldn't trust any of these congressional dirtballs to do right.

Sir Allen operated two “banks” for years in the Caribbean. When he was finally audited it was determined the corporate books he turned over to investigators weren't real. He's accused of operating a “ponzi scheme” but he may also have been (I'm guessing on this) running a money laundering dump for D.C. politicians. NEWSMEAT’s political contribution site gives four different addresses for Stanford—two in Texas, one in Miami and one in St. Croix. He apparently used his employees on various occasions to exceed the personal contribution limit through a “firm-wide” donation.

I'm speculating but Stanford could have had any number of individuals who served as “donors” in a nationwide network that would conduit bribe money to congressmen. Hillary Clinton had to shed herself of $850,000, some funneled to her through Norman Hsu’s conduit network and some given in Hsu’s name. And that's just the money the feds could identify.

The Stanford/Biden story could fade away or it could turn into a Watergate-sized scandal.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I was invested in the stock market when the President was elected.

I’m a victim.

[jaydubya2]

Sean Hannity listeners?

[SeaHawkFan]

What happens if none of the Stanford “victims” come forward, or if just a few do? If there are no “victims”, where is the crime?

[Brad from Tennessee]

Stanford's “banks” may not have been a “ponzi scheme” in the sense that innocent investors were scammed. The “victims” may have all been crooks looking to launder money.

At least part of Stanford's business was in the Virgin Islands (U.S. territory) and he apparently violated banking laws. Stanford also has IRS liens against him for millions of dollars. But who knows? He's got a lot of buddies in Congress and the White House. He might walk.