Manhunt: Accused Financier Scammer Stanford Missing

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Authorities say Investor Losses Could Rival Madoff Scandal


Texas financier R. Allen Stanford is accused of cheating 50,000 customers out of $8 billion dollars but despite raids Tuesday of his financial empire in Houston, Memphis, and Tupelo, Miss., federal authorities say they do not know the current whereabouts of the CEO.

The Securities Exchange Commission alleges Stanford ran a fraud promising investors impossible returns, much like Bernard Madoff's $50 billion alleged Ponzi scheme.

Investigators Tuesday shut down and froze the assets of three of the companies Stanford controls and they say the case could grow to be as big as the Madoff scandal. Like Madoff's clients, Stanford's investors are in shock.

"Initially we put our money in this institution and in a CD because we were nervous about the markets and thought it was a safe place," said investor Brett Zagone. "I'm so upset right now I can't even talk about it."

But in addition to angry clients, Stanford, like Madoff, has many friends in Washington.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/WallStreet/story?id=6903014&page=1

[Heidi]

1. Well, there's a ginormous surprise. (nt)

[havocmom]

2. Check all the good plastic surgeons' private digs

[MineralMan]

3. Check Paraguay...

Where Stanford is probably preparing the way for GW Bush and his buddies.

It'll be party time for one and all as they divvy up the loot.

[maddezmom]

4. MSNBC just reported something about Antigua and pilot

didn't really hear the whole thing.

[mod mom]

9. Sought a 1 way ticket to Antigua-here:

Meanwhile, the brash, 58-year-old financier sought to get a one-way flight out of the U.S. to Antigua, CNBC reported Wednesday. Citing an unnamed source in the private jet industry, CNBC said Stanford contacted a private jet owner Tuesday and attempted to pay for the flight with a credit card, but was refused because the company would only accept a wire transfer.

His whereabouts remained unclear on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused him of operating a fraud centered on the sale of certificates of deposit from his Antiguan affiliate, Stanford International Bank Ltd. (SIB).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29257569/

[maddezmom]

10. Thanks for the link

:hi:

[Dover]

18. Are we supposed to believe the FBI and/or CIA did not have him in their sites?

Sorry, I don't buy it.

He had too many 'friends' in high places:


...Stanford's business is headquartered on the Caribbean island of Antigua. In the last decade, Stanford and his companies have spent more than $7 million on lobbyists and campaign contributions in efforts to loosen regulation of offshore banks.


Among the top recipients: Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of the members who took a trip to Antigua where he was entertained by Stanford.

[Dover]

21. dupe..n/t

[atreides1]

5. Gotta Wonder

Which of his D.C. buddies warned him of what was coming?

[MineralMan]

6. Probably his butt-buddy Cornwine...

But who knows, really?

[Dover]

26. If he goes down he's likely to take others with him (from BOTH sides of the aisle)..

so he probably was given a free 'get out of jail/country free' card.

So much corruption...where does it end and who ISN'T a player?

[MineralMan]

33. Yup, the scandal will hit both parties, I'm afraid.

I'm even more afraid that this is just the tip of the fraud iceberg. So much money has left the USA in the past few years to insure that the crooks have their stash where it can't be reached.

Watch for more bad news coming up in the next few months. This whole ugly mess is going to shock the world, I think, and it's going to involve highly-placed people from the whole political spectrum.

It's gonna get ugly...real ugly.

[ejpoeta]

23. i'm sure he knew. i mean, it's not like the guy doesn't have the money

to disappear!!

[nc4bo]

7. GTFOOH! So I wonder how this happened?

I can't believe this man wasn't being watched by "somebody".

:wtf:

[MineralMan]

11. Oh, he was probably passing out bundles of $100s

as he fled. $10,000 in each bundle. Buys a lot of groceries, it does.

[xchrom]

8. quelle surprise. nt

[Dover]

12. Find Kenny Boy and you'll likely find Stanford....n/t

[goforit]

31. Bada-bing!!Ya got that right.

[bemildred]

13. Boy, this is just like a movie.

I wonder if he will get away?
:popcorn:

[Dappleganger]

14. When the poor get caught stealing they are led away to jail in an orange jumpsuit.

When the rich get caught they go on vacation in their private jet.

[nc4bo]

15. Sometimes the poor are even put in jail before there's a trial.

Strike that because it sounds funny.

The poor get to sit in jail and wait their turn for a trial. If they're lucky it's a day or 2, if they're not, it could be a month. If found guilty, the time they served is subtracted from their sentence if not guilty they get a kiss on the cheek and a no harm done :S.

What's good for the poor should be good for the rich and richly influential.

Disgusting that this turd is on the run.

[aquart]

19. What's interesting is he had trouble getting the private jet.

Which seems to mean it took him by surprise and THAT's a surprise to me.

[Dover]

22. ....or so we're told.

:eyes:

[Dover]

16. And just LOOK who has their hands in his cookie jar...>

And we think we're gonna get real change from Washington?


Stanford's business is headquartered on the Caribbean island of Antigua. In the last decade, Stanford and his companies have spent more than $7 million on lobbyists and campaign contributions in efforts to loosen regulation of offshore banks.


Among the top recipients: Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of the members who took a trip to Antigua where he was entertained by Stanford.

[biopowertoday]

29. Dodd seems to be suspect in lots of lobbyist cases.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

80. And McSame.

:think:

[Elidor]

82. Other recipients of his money include:

Tom Daschle, Harry Reid, Tom DeLay, Robert Torricelli, Mitch McConnell, Bob Ney, Martin Frost, Trent Lott, Rahm Emanuel, Dick Durbin, and Charles Rangel.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/17/r-allen-stanford-spent-mi_n_167731.html

And Barack Obama:

http://www.newser.com/story/51262/obama-gives-stanford-money-to-charity.html

[depakid]

17. Waiting fo the other shoe to drop

which would be:

Russian mafia and Latin American drug cartels have lost big money....

On the other hand- the fool quoted in the OP was duly parted from his money.

"Initially we put our money in this institution and in a CD because we were nervous about the markets and thought it was a safe place," said investor Brett Zagone.

Clue for the clueless- if you want safe offshore banks with reasonable returns the place would be Australia- not Antigua.

[depakid]

35. Shoe dropped

SEC officials said they didn't know where Mr. Stanford is. Neither he nor representatives of Stanford companies could be reached for comment. On Tuesday, a Stanford spokesman referred questions to the SEC.

One early probe into Stanford International Bank and its affiliates came in 1997 as part of a Drug Enforcement Administration probe into the laundering of narcotics proceeds by a Mexican drug cartel, DEA records show. The Stanford bank cooperated with the DEA and handed over millions of dollars, court records show. The bank wasn't charged.

Shortly thereafter, the State Department began sounding the alarm about potential money laundering in Antigua by the Russian mafia and other criminal syndicates.

In April 1999, the Treasury Department issued a special advisory warning U.S. banks to give scrutiny to Antigua transactions. The Treasury said in a statement at the time it had concerns that the financial companies being regulated by an Antiguan regulator were in fact controlling the regulator. That statement was a reference to Stanford International Bank, among others, former U.S. officials said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123500982598918793.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Blue_Tires]

81. you called it.....

[OwnedByFerrets]

20. Get Ken Lay on the phone.....Stanford "may" just answer by accident.

[UpInArms]

24. where's a a gold plated helicopter when you really need it!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article5712078.ece

There were also concerns about the level of negative publicity generated by the event. While Stanford's initial involvement with West Indies cricket was well-intentioned, it quickly gave way to more global ambitions and it was hoped the publicity would help Stanford's financial services company challenge the mighty names of investment banking. But ever since Stanford landed at Lord's in a gold-plated helicopter, trailing a Perspex crate stuffed with $20 million, English sensibilities were offended and the Stanford name became synonymous not with “hard work, clear vision and value” but with tackiness.

[Dover]

27. ...to match the golden parachute...n/t

[wroberts189]

25. I wonder when Madoff will have a ..ahem ..."heart attack"

[acmavm]

28. A short list of his BFF:

<snip>Stanford's business is headquartered on the Caribbean island of Antigua. In the last decade, Stanford and his companies have spent more than $7 million on lobbyists and campaign contributions in efforts to loosen regulation of offshore banks.


Among the top recipients: Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of the members who took a trip to Antigua where he was entertained by Stanford.


Sen Cornyn's office has said the trip "was strictly a fact-finding trip," and at the time, "there was nothing untoward or unseemly" about Stanford Financial.
<snip>
__________________________________

I swear that friggin' McCain could smell a nickel up an elephant's ass from a thousand miles.

[goforit]

30. Sitting on a island in the Pacific hanging out with Kenneth Lay and Osama.

Lobster, cavier and martinis.

[chill_wind]

32. SEC Investigation goes back 3 years. (Businessweek)

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2009/db20090213_848258.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+++analysis


Lots of time for cotingency planning. For friends in Washington, too.

[abirdinthehand]

34. If we let Halliburton run off to Dubai with all of our hard earned tax dollars

Why would we stop such a petty thief as this?

I too believe that the worst is yet to come.........

[intaglio]

36. Stanford whereabouts unknown after charges: SEC

Source: News Daily

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2009 (Reuters) — Federal regulators said on Wednesday they do not know the whereabouts of billionaire Texas banker Allen Stanford, charged with a "massive" $8 billion international financial fraud.

"We are unaware of his whereabouts," Securities and Exchange Commission spokeswoman Kimberly Garber said from Texas.

Asked if Stanford may be outside the United States, she said: "Certainly that's a possibility, but we don't know."

U.S. marshals assisting the SEC have been unable to serve Stanford with court orders freezing assets and appointing a receiver to run his Stanford Financial Group companies since a raid on his Houston headquarters Tuesday, Garber said.

Read more: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/wat011000-us-stanford-whereabouts/

---

This man might just have got away, and please remember that the $8bn is only really a sample charge - it could turn out bigger than Maddoff!

[kestrel91316]

37. Let's post this guy's photo all over the internet and send it around the world

a few times. We The People will find him.

[marshall]

38. He's fallen a long way since the DNC last year

But I don't see how he could be out of the country and the government not know about it.

[WriteDown]

41. Was he at the DNC?

Seriously?

[sasquatch]

39. Someplace that doesn't have an extradetion treaty with the United States

Just my $.02.

[MineralMan]

43. "I'm going to Paraguay!"

He's going to lead the way for Bushco and Lay and the rest of the Texans. They're all heading down there, soon, to divvy up the ill-gotten gains and to establish "SOUTH TEKSIS" there, where they can live like kings.

I hear they're building a titty bar/tex-mex restaurant there, even as we write, so they'll feel right at home.

[musette_sf]

40. that's SIR Allen Stanford to you peons

(knighted by his island tax cheat refuge)

[dbonds]

42. Probably with Ken Lay.

[NOW tense]

44. I bet he shaved his mustache.

That is how everyone gets away.

[AnneD]

45. Considering Houston has an international air port....

and many non stop flights....He could have left before they even issued a warrent-as slow as they (SEC/FBI) have been to draw up charges/prosecute. Continental is based here.

[ConcernedCanuk]

46. Probably living with Osama - he KNOWS the USA can't catch him

.
.
.

BILLIONS of dollars spent, almost a decade of chasing and millions of lives ruined by the BFEE's War-Machine

might as well hide right under the guns

USA's military is looking so impotent right now . . .

Carpet bombing half the Middle East and can't get ONE MAN

roh roh USA Nomba Wan , ,

yeah right . . .

[Dr.Phool]

47. We know he's not hiding in Venezuela.

[HopeHoops]

48. He's probably in the same up-scale condo complex as Ken Lay - crooks in hiding

Does anyone REALLY believe Ken Lay just "died"?

[FarCenter]

49. Marc Rich's spare bedroom?

[valerief]

50. I keep picturing this asshole in some second-rate airport, living in

his private jet, scrounging in Starbucks dumpsters. And I'm certain the government will lend a helping hand to him. To the tune of several billion, I'd imagine. Cuz they're all in this together.

[rabs]

51. This guy was spreading money all over the place

and suspect lots of more names are going to surface. Here is the first one from ABC news.

-----------------

A report by ABC News names U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) as a top recipient of campaign funds from Stanford and his companies, totalling a reported $45,900.

Senator Nelson made the following comment to News 13 responding to the investigation:

“I have told our campaign to return every dime of any political contribution that we might have received from this fellow who has just been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

--------------------

Read earlier today that Ecuadoran government had suspended Stanford operation in that country.

[TheCoxwain]

52. Stanford fails in bid to leave USA

Source: Cricinfo

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

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

---

No news as to his whereabouts though

[opihimoimoi]

53. By now he is in Tahiti sipping those drinks w umbrellas it them

[Alhena]

58. It's hard to keep a good man down

[dysfunctional press]

69. doubtful- seeing as he was unable to hire a plane in houston earlier today...

because his credt cards & accounts were frozen yesterday.
if he doesn't have gobs of ready cash stashed somewhere easily accessible to him, then he probably doesn't rate too high on the embezzler intelligence quotient.

[opihimoimoi]

72. If he doesn't have gobs of cash available to him....then he is the cool fool on his way to twoubles

[jordi_fanclub]

54. Seems the 'sob' is already away...

Just check this tracklog:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N920QS/history/20090216/1836Z/KHOU/TAPA

[Zen Democrat]

55. Ken Lay is waiting for him on that private island .....

[earcandle]

56. Probably, huh?

[earcandle]

57. Oh! I have a heart! Who is Smile? Thank you, Smile!

[MyOwnPeace]

59. Where is he?

Funny - I was thinking the same thing! :eyes: :eyes:

[Piewhacket]

60. Accounts frozen? Puleeze. He's got cash/diamonds/gold stashed everywhere.

and and probably a few well paid operatives.
$50 billion buys a lot of perks.
they have to find/arrest HIM, not just his money.

[Joanne98]

61. Where is Stanford?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal regulators said on Wednesday they do not know the whereabouts of billionaire Texas banker Allen Stanford, charged with a "massive" $8 billion international financial fraud.

"We are unaware of his whereabouts," Securities and Exchange Commission spokeswoman Kimberly Garber said from Texas.

Asked if Stanford may be outside the United States, she said: "Certainly that's a possibility, but we don't know."

U.S. marshals assisting the SEC have been unable to serve Stanford with court orders freezing assets and appointing a receiver to run his Stanford Financial Group companies since a raid on his Houston headquarters Tuesday, Garber said.

Garber said she was unaware of any warrants for Stanford's arrest and said the SEC was still hoping for his voluntary cooperation on the civil fraud charges.

"Certainly he is still subject to the court orders. To that extent, we certainly want to ensure that he is served," Garber said. She said two executive who were charged with Stanford, Laura Pendergest-Holt and Jim Davis, had been served.

The FBI is in communication with the SEC regarding the Stanford case, FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap said. She gave no more details. "The FBI is certainly aware of the SEC investigation, and we have been in contact with the SEC," Dunlap said.

The SEC said in court papers disclosed Tuesday that Stanford had failed to appear in recent weeks for testimony ordered by subpoena.

CNBC reported that he had tried to hire a private jet to fly one-way to Antigua from Houston, but the jet lessor refused to take his credit card.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWAT01100020090218

[Arugula Latte]

62. As a UC Berkeley grad, I was gleefully picturing the entire Stanford campus being relocated

to a remote island ...

;)

[beac]

63. Unfortunately, Condi-the-War-Criminal would be going along to that island.

I still cannot believe Stanford took her back.

[Arugula Latte]

64. And unfortunately, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) still has that war criminal John Yoo.

[EFerrari]

65. LOL! Me, too. First thought when reading these threads.

Go CAL!

[ConcernedCanuk]

66. I'd be checking GWB's guest rooms - Crawford too . .

.
.
.

and the article should read that Stanford's KNOWN accounts were frozen

I'm pretty sure he has a wee bit of cash stored out of sight . . .

and then there is Paraguay . .

hmmmmm

[Dreamer Tatum]

73. Are you aware that Stanford is a big Dem supporter? nt

[ConcernedCanuk]

74. and that should excuse his behavior - how?

.
.
.

:shrug:

[Dreamer Tatum]

75. Didn't excuse it in the least

Just keeping things correct.

[gratuitous]

67. What's Stanford's legal status?

Has he been arrested and charged? Is he out on bail? If Stanford is free on bail or his own recognizance, who's the genius on the bench who decided he wasn't a flight risk?

[kirby]

71. Madoff vouched for him... n/t

[dysfunctional press]

68. why would he WANT to go to antigua...?

it seems like there'd be a lot more pissed-off people waiting for him there...:shrug:

[kirby]

70. He is a dual citizen...

However, it is very odd. I believe there is extradition between the US and Antigua also. However, the guy was 'knighted' by the Antiguan gov't some time back, so perhaps he is connected/will be protected.

[depakid]

78. "the guy was 'knighted' by the Antiguan gov't "

Yep- he's Sir Allen Stanford.

Not going to help him much with cricket fans....

[moggie]

79. It could be misdirection

Arrange for people to think he's fleeing to Antigua, then quietly scuttle somewhere else. If he has any sense, he'll have had his escape planned in advance.

[Kalyan]

76. Strange

It's strange that a sports website has an article on Stanford's escape attempts while MSM is mainly silent on the topic ...

[CreekDog]

77. That may be true, but they are making good progress on leaving the PAC-10

:D