The famous faces that fooled Stanford clients

[CHIMO]

Source: The Observer

Sir Allen Stanford, the billionaire at the centre of one of the world's largest fraud investigations, repeatedly used the British royal family to convince investors that he was a bona fide businessman with impeccable credentials.

Stanford Financial Group (SFG) used at least four royals in its glossy publicity brochures, magazines and websites to emphasise the tycoon's respectability - at a time when difficult questions were being asked about how his operations made money.

Through his sponsorship of prestigious polo tournaments in London and the US, Stanford, who is also suspected of having links with a Mexican drug cartel, rubbed shoulders with Britain's aristocracy, laying on lavish hospitality that garnered him much favourable PR.

SFG's website boasts of its sponsorship of the Stanford charity polo day, hosted by Prince Charles, which raises money for the British Forces Foundation. An article in Stanford Financial's magazine, Eagle, displays a photograph of Prince Harry, who played in another Stanford-sponsored polo event. In addition, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has distributed the prizes at Stanford's tournaments and has been pictured with some of his executives.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/22/stanford-financial-group-banking

[Gregorian]

1. An interesting tidbit about England and Stanford.

Brown has just passed into law a way to secretly bail out banks that are failing. That is so that it won't create any public stir.

However, Stanford was preparing to open a bank in London. Now here's the scary part- Let's say he had opened that bank. And now he's failing. And now they start bailing that bank. You see? In other words we are paving the way to funding criminal enterprises.

But this is not on topic to the post. I just wanted to put it somewher.

[UpInArms]

2. royalty and intelligence do not always go together

and those that gravitate too much toward fame tend to have the least in gravitas

(jmho)

[47of74]

3. Along with the guy who Ed Schultz...

affectionately refers to as Slant-head!