Hundreds swarm Stanford's Antigua bank

[bemildred]

Source: Reuters

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (Reuters) - Hundreds of people lined up at Texas billionaire Allen Stanford's Antiguan bank on Wednesday seeking to withdraw funds, a day after the tycoon was charged with an $8 billion fraud.

Two police officers stood watch at the Bank of Antigua at midmorning as at least 600 people stood in a line stretching around a street corner, despite assurances from regional monetary authorities that the bank had sufficient reserves.

"I'm worried and I'd like to get my money out," said Andrea Lamar, 28, who joined the line with a friend on a street popular with tourists in the state capital, St. John's.

A woman in the queue who declined to give her name said, "I wasn't panicked until I saw this crowd. Now I'm concerned."

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE51H3KT20090218

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. And so it begins.

[aquamarina]

2. Have they found Stanford yet?

[8 track mind]

4. Probably living it up in Bolivia. n/t

[MineralMan]

6. Nah...probably Paraguay, where he's

preparing the way for Bush, Cornyn, and the rest of the crooks. Once they get there, they'll divvy up all the loot.

[8 track mind]

10. Yeah thats right

Didn't BushCo buy up a whole bunch of land down there?

[MineralMan]

13. That's the story, anyhow. As far as I know, it hasn't been

proven or disproven. Apparently, the Bush family has been buying up land down there, along with Sun Yung Moon, for a long time. If the stories are accurate, they have essentially locked up a huge aquifer under their acquired properties. The landscape there is very Texas-like, undeveloped, and has considerable potential, if enough money were available to develop the resources.

Again, none of this is supported by paper records, but Paraguay isn't the USA, so we can't access those records as readily.

[glinda]

12. Osama is probably there also

[marylanddem]

3. This happened in Maryland in the savings & loan crisis of the

mid-1980's. Not a pretty sight.

[depakid]

5. A good old fashioned bank run

I don't think there's any FDIC insurance on those funds....

[bemildred]

7. The old ways are best.

Can tar and feathers be far behind?

[depakid]

11. Who knows what they do in Antigua

Creole's have some unusual practices.

:o

[annabanana]

8. (am loving your avatar)

Those were some dry witted bats...

[bemildred]

9. Ah, another Pogo fan.

That did take some work to dig up and digitize. But I've been happy with it.

[jjanpundt]

14. I think I've figured out what to do with Madoff, Stanford etc. Gitmo

round them up toss them into Gitmo, no access to representation, no access to money, no comforts of home.... Sounds good to me.

[Mudoria]

15. I believe he was stopped from boarding a flight to Antigua..

saw this on a news scroll so I don't have a link for it...

[NYC]

16. His credit card was declined.

I'll be back with the link.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3745040

...Stanford, who has been accused of being involved in an alleged US$8 billion fraud, attempted to hire a private jet to fly him from Houston to Antigua, but his credit card was declined and the hire company insisted on a wire transfer. Stanford's accounts were yesterday frozen...

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/391361.html

[Earth_First]

17. Rut-roh Scrappy!

Perhaps Antigua wasn't the best possible choice for escape afterall.