Allen Stanford Disappears... Financial Scam could Rival Madoff's

Allen Stanford Disappears... Financial Scam could Rival Madoff's

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According to ABC News, federal authorities do not know the current whereabouts of Texas banker R. Allen Stanford, who was accused Tuesday by the SEC of trying to bilk some 50,000 customers out of $8 billion. His apparent disappearance comes despite raids Tuesday of Stanford's offices in Houston, Memphis, and Tupelo, Miss.

ABC also reports that federal authorities say the case could grow as big as the $50 billion ponzi scheme allegedly perpetrated by Bernie Madoff.

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Federal regulators charged R. Allen Stanford and three of his companies with a "massive" fraud. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint, filed in federal court in Dallas, Stanford International Bank sold about $8 billion of so-called certificates of deposit to investors by promising "improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates."

There are a number of surprising revelations buried in the complaint. We highlight seven of the most shocking below:

1. Stanford posted identical returns two years in a row, in 1995 and 1996, indicating the fraud has been going on for at least 13 years.

2. Stanford and CFO James Davis have "wholly failed" to cooperate with the SEC investigation.

3. There was no army of analysts combing through Stanford's multi-billion-dollar portfolio. Rather, the only research conducted on companies in which he was investing came from Stanford himself, and CFO James Davis.

4. Stanford told at least one client that the SEC was freezing CDs, a blatant impossibility.

5. Stanford lost money from the Madoff ponzi scheme, "despite the bank's public assurances to the contrary." One analyst puts the loss at $400,000.

6. Despite repeated calls from the SEC to Stanford's Antigua-based accounting firm, the accountants never answered their phones.

7. And as if the SEC couldn't put it any clearer, Stanford's public statements about its investments "are false."

Currently even if I had any money to invest... I would stuff it under my mattress or buy gold.

In the push to deregulate everything in sight, especially the financial markets... the free market fanatics of the hard right (though no party or wing is totally innocent) have helped create a financial firestorm that will continue to drag this nation (and the world down) until bottom is hit... however far down that will be.

Its gonna get ugly folks especially when more and more of these fianancial predators are exposed and we realize how badly we've been screwed.



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the SEC is completely useless just like the FDIC
well.... in short just like any other govt. extension program

completely useless like used napkins

I think it was Raegan who said "the closest thing to eternal life is a govt. dept., once they are created they stay forever"

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Perhaps... but then much depends on who is running it.

No oversight gave us the great depression.

A little of something is better than nothing at all. Besides both did their jobs passingly well until they started being undermined, underfunded and gutted from Reagan on.

Most regulatory bodies, most pointedly the SEC, the FDA, FCC, EPA, IRS are, in fact, no longer in the hands of the people. They are populated by leadership and mid to upper level policy-makers who are "Corporate" appointees.

DO the research and you will find that our government has been infiltrated by what we could rightly call 'organized crime.'

We are being fed food that can kill us, we are being exposed to industrial waste that can kill us, we are being fleeced by every major corporate financial scam possible, and in NO case have the regulatory agencies been held accountable for their complete and utter disregard for the public they supposedly serve. Personally, I think we should take away every cent we ever paid them, and THEN prosecute them for criminal complicity in the deterioration of the nation - possibly even treason.

[edit on 18-2-2009 by Maxmars]

Originally posted by Maxmars
Most regulatory bodies, most pointedly the SEC, the FDA, FCC, EPA, IRS are, in fact, no longer in the hands of the people. They are populated by leadership and mid to upper level policy-makers who are "Corporate" appointees.

DO the research and you will find that our government has been infiltrated by what we could rightly call 'organized crime.'

I couldn't agree more and the extremists on the right and their enablers from the left are responsible for this mess...

... but think back between these agencies inception, for most of their time they did their jobs.

The infiltration began under Reagan and continued under Bush senior but really built up steam under bush minor.

reply to post by grover

Currently even if I had any money to invest... I would stuff it under my mattress or buy gold.

Soon enough your cash will probably be worth less than the paper it's printed on - go for the gold while you can !

The problem isn't Deregulation but surreptitious No Regulation.

A perfect example is Credit Default Swaps. Its obvious to Buyers, Sellers, and innocent Bystanders that they are insurance. Insurance regulation has a long carefully developed history designed to protect the public. Credit Default Swaps were invented to bypass all this.

It should seem obvious to all that if something isn't specifically named, it should be regulated like the most similar. Only if regulators and legislators can be convinced that its really different should it be given special treatment.

Fraud is still fraud even if it's some clever new way to do it

Its my opinion that economic downturns are caused by Fraud in nearly every case.