Robert Allen Stanford (born March 24, 1950) is a former American financier and a professional sports sponsor who is serving a 110-year sentence in federal prison, has been convicted on charges of massive investment company Ponzi Scheme and fraud. Stanford is chairman of the now-defunct Stanford Financial Group of Companies. The fifth-generation Texan who once lived in Saint Croix, the US Virgin Islands, he has dual citizenship, being a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda and the United States. He donated millions of dollars to politicians in Antigua and the United States among other countries.
In early 2009, Stanford was the subject of several fraudulent investigations, and on February 17, 2009, alleged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for fraud and some breach of US securities laws over allegations of "ongoing massive fraud" which involves $ 7 Ã, billion in certificates of deposit. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided Stanford's office in Houston, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Tupelo, Mississippi. On 27 February 2009, the SEC changed its complaint to describe alleged fraud as "a large Ponzi scheme". He "voluntarily surrendered" to the authorities on June 18, 2009. On March 6, 2012, Stanford was convicted on all charges except for one count of wire fraud. He served a 110-year sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Coleman in Coleman, Florida. In September 2014, Stanford appealed his conviction; however, the appeals court rejected the appeal in October 2015.
Video Allen Stanford
Initial years
Stanford grew up in Mexia, Texas. His father, James Stanford, is a former mayor of Mexia and a member of the Board of Directors of Stanford Financial Group. His mother, Sammie (nÃÆ' Â © e Conn), is a nurse. After his parents divorced in 1959, Stanford and his brother went to live with their mother. Both her parents remarried.
Stanford graduated from Eastern Hills High School in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1974, Stanford graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, earning a BA in finance.
Maps Allen Stanford
Careers
Stanford started his business in Waco, Texas, opened a bodybuilding gym that failed. His first success in business came from speculating in real estate in Houston after the Texas oil bubble burst in the early 1980s; his father was his partner in this venture. Those people made a fortune in the 1980s, buying depressed real estate and selling it a few years later when the market recovered. After his father retired in 1993, Stanford took over the company, which at that time had 500 employees.
Stanford moved to the Caribbean in the 1980s, first to Montserrat, then to Antigua. With Stanford Finance, he started the Guardian International Bank on the island of Montserrat in 1985; he transferred it to Antigua during British suppression in the offshore banking industry of Montserrat in the 1980s, changing its name to Stanford International Bank, a Stanford Financial affiliate.
Beginning in 2007, Stanford and Baldwin Spencer, prime ministers of Antigua and Barbuda and previous allies, began to verbally hostile in public.
In 2009, Antigua's Financial Services Arrangement Commission named a British company, Vantis Business Recovery Services, a recipient for Stanford International Bank and the Stanford Trust Company, Associated Press reported.
Criminal activity
Ponzi scheme and fraud belief
The report emerged in early February 2009 that the SEC, the FBI, the Florida Regulatory Office, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the main US private sector oversight body, are investigating Stanford Financial Group, questioning markets consistently higher than returns claimed by Stanford International Bank to its depositors. A former executive told SEC officials that Stanford presented the results of hypothetical investments as real historical data in sales sales to clients. Stanford claims that his depository certificate is as secure as, or safer than, a guaranteed US government account. A leaked cable message from the US Embassy in the Bahamas reported in early 2006 that companies under Stanford's control were "reportedly involved in bribery, money laundering, and political manipulation". The US ambassador to the Bahamas at the time was reported to have "managed to get out of one-on-one photos with Stanford" during a charity breakfast event.
Federal agencies raided Stanford Financial offices on February 17, 2009, and treated him as "a kind of crime scene - warning people not to leave fingerprints". The SEC sued Stanford with "ongoing massive scams" centering on an eight billion dollar investment scheme. Stanford's assets, together with the people of his company, were frozen and placed into curators by a US federal judge, who ordered Stanford to hand over his passport.
CNBC reported that Stanford was trying to flee the country on the same day as a raid on his base. He contacted the owner of a private jet and attempted to pay the flight to Antigua by credit card, but was refused because the company would only accept wire transfers.
On February 19, acting at the request of the SEC, FBI agents placed Stanford at the home of his girlfriend near Fredericksburg, Virginia, and served him with civil law documents filed by the SEC. The SEC often filed civil charges before criminal prosecution was filed. Stanford was arrested on June 18, 2009. He submitted his passport to federal prosecutors, and hired criminal defense lawyer Brendan Sullivan, who represents Oliver North.
Governments take over Stanford's business operations. The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank announced that it had taken over the local operations of Bank of Antigua, which was renamed Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank. The Venezuelan government took over the Stanford Bank of Venezuela, Stanford's bank branch in the country.
On February 27, 2009, the SEC said that Stanford and his accomplices operated "massive Ponzi schemes", abused billions of dollars in investor money and falsified Stanford International Bank records to hide their scams. "Stanford International Bank's financial statements, including its investment income, are fictitious," the SEC said. In an April 20 interview at Houston's criminal defense lawyer's office, Dick DeGuerin, Stanford denied wrongdoing. The companies have been well managed, he said, until the SEC "revokes" them.
On June 18, 2009, Stanford was detained by FBI agents. On June 25, 2009, he appeared in Houston court and pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction. On August 27, 2009, Stanford was accepted at Conroe, Texas, Regional Medical Center. He complained of racing hearts when he was transported from private prisons in Huntsville, Texas, to the Federal Court in Houston to attend a hearing on his lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who had asked the court to seek permission to withdraw from the Stanford case. Robert Luskin of Patton-Boggs, who has represented Stanford in a civil case simultaneously, will be the main adviser.
On September 26, 2009, Stanford was hospitalized for injuries sustained while beaten by other inmates at the Cornell Company, Joe Corley Detention Facility in Conroe. The injury was described as non-life-threatening.
In March 2010, SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz issued a report that the SEC failed to uncover the Ponzi scheme by Stanford. Due to concerns raised by former Chief Investigator SEC David P. Weber about Kotz's inappropriate behavior, Inspector General David C. Williams of the US Postal Service was brought in to conduct an independent review. The Williams report found that Kotz "appears to have a conflict of interest" because he has a personal relationship with a lawyer representing Stanford victims.
The Stanford trial date is set for January 2011. The district judge assumes that Stanford's anti-anxiety drug addiction interferes with his judgment and therefore makes it unfeasible to stand trial. Stanford was imprisoned in the Federal Detention Center, Houston. In February 2011, Stanford brought back $ 7.2 billion in claims for damages to the FBI and SEC. In May, prosecutors dropped seven charges against Stanford, leaving 14 counts in progress.
On November 5, 2011, Stanford was detained at the Federal Medical Center in the Federal Correctional Complex, Butner in Butner, North Carolina. His lawyer claimed that Stanford was unfit for trial due to amnesia resulting from his injuries. On December 22, 2011, he was found competent to be tried by US District Judge David Hittner.
The trial begins on January 24, 2012, at the Houston Federal Court, Judge Hittner leads. On March 6, after three hours of consideration, the jury decided he was behind the Ponzi scheme. The prosecutor sought a 230-year sentence - maximum allowed by law, and 80 years more than the 150-year sentence granted to Bernard Madoff - calling him a "cruel predator" who "lives in deceit in deceit." Stanford's lawyer punished 31 to 44 months and a maximum of 10 years; Former punishment, with credit for the time served, could allow him to get out of jail without further jail time. According to Peter Henning of the New York Times, judges are more willing to impose penalties for financial fraudsters who have effectively become life sentences in recent years. The extent to which such deception destroys people's lives, Henning wrote, similar to "economic murder," and such over-the-top sentences are a way of expressing public anger over such behavior.
On June 14, 2012, Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison. Although less than half of the maximum sentence requested by the prosecutor, it ensures he will die in prison. Hittner ordered Stanford to lose $ 5.9 billion, saying that Stanford had arranged "one of the most terrible scams ever filed to a jury in federal court." On conviction, Stanford spoke for the first time in the trial, denying that he ever cheated anyone. He blamed his company's failure on "Gestapo tactics" by government regulators. He was imprisoned at the USP Coleman II in Sumterville, Florida; the early release is April 17, 2105 - when he will be 155 years old.
On April 26, 2013, federal district judge David Godbey took the SEC in a civil suit against Stanford and ordered him to repeal $ 6.7 billion ($ 5.9 billion in illegal earnings and $ 861 million in interest) and pay a $ 5 , 9 billion. He is banned for life from the securities industry. Godbey wrote that Stanford had been deceiving for more than a decade "with a high scienter level," or the knowledge that what he was doing was illegal.
Stanford filed 299 short pages in September 2014 with the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans for his conviction. Appeal rejected in October 2015.
Other business issues
Tax liens
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which confirmed many of the United States Tax Court rulings, found that Stanford and his wife, Susan, were less reporting their 1990 federal tax of $ 423,531.36. Public records show that Stanford may owe hundreds of millions of dollars in federal taxes. There are four federal tax levies from 2007 and 2008 against Stanford, for a total of over $ 212 million.
Money-laundering investigation
The FBI and other agencies have been conducting ongoing investigations against Stanford since 2008 for possible involvement in money laundering for Gulf Cartel Mexico. According to New York Times , Stanford once held the trust of Cook Islands called "Baby Mama", with her lover and two children as beneficiaries. Trust protected results are transferred to Swiss bank accounts and the Isle of Man from Florida home sales of $ 2.5 million.
Trademarks copyright infringement
In 2001, Stanford said that his great-grandfather was a relative of Leland Stanford, founder of Stanford University. He funded the restoration of Leland Stanford's house in Sacramento, California, in an effort "to help preserve an important part of Stanford's family history," and hired a genealogist to prove he was a member of the Stanford Leland family. A university spokesman said "We do not know any genealogical relationship between Allen Stanford and Leland Stanford". In 2008 the university filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Stanford, claiming the school's name was used "in a way that created public confusion" and "disadvantaged".
Knights and retractions
The article in February 2009 The Houston Chronicle describes Stanford as "the leading aid, promoter, employer, and public persona" of Antigua and Barbuda. On November 1, 2006, Stanford was appointed Commander of the Knight of the Order of the Nations (KCN) of Antigua and Barbuda by the government of Antiguan. Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, joined the Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir James Carlisle, to make this announcement during the Jubilee Silver Jubilee Celebration. After becoming a knight, Stanford used the title given "Sir Allen" often; he is generally referred to so by Antiguan and internationally.
In October 2009, the National Honors Committee of Antigua and Barbuda voted unanimously to strip Stanford of his knights. On November 2, 2009, the recommendation was forwarded to the Governor-General, Dame Louise Lake-Tack. The order to deprive the knights and emblems of Stanford was approved and served at Stanford on April 1, 2010.
Other interests
Cricket
Stanford created and funded the 20/20 Stanford cricket tournament in the West Indies, where he built his own land in Antigua. The first Stanford 20/20 Cricket Tournament was held in July and August 2006. The second tournament took place in January and February 2008 with a global television audience of 300 million. Trinidad and Tobago took first place and with it a US $ 280,000 Stanford Super Series prize after beating Middlesex on October 27, 2008.
In June 2008, Stanford and the Cricket Council of England and Wales (ECB) signed an agreement for five Twenty20 internationals between England and XI West Indies stars, with a total prize fund of £ 12.27 million (US $ 20 million) to be awarded to the team that won the Championship. It was the greatest prize ever offered to the team for one tournament. This is in danger after a dispute with Digicel, sponsor of the West Indies cricket team, who is not happy to sponsor the event. Finally, the dispute was settled and the championship was won by Stanford Superstars, who beat the England team with 10 wickets.
On February 17, 2009, when news of a fraudulent investigation became public, the ECB and WICB withdrew from talks with Stanford about sponsorship. On February 20, 2009, the ECB announced it had severed ties with Stanford and canceled all contracts with him.
Media
Stanford has two business newspapers in Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Kitts and Nevis, both called The Sun . Following the scandal, the two newspapers told workers that their full operation would end in April 2010.
Properties
Maiden Island owned by Stanford in Antigua and Barbuda.
See also
- Caribbean Star Airlines
- James M. Davis
- LIAT
- Laura Pendergest-Holt
- Stanford Cricket Ground, Coolidge, Antigua
References
External links
- Allen Stanford - Personal Website (site not running since June 19, 2009; see archive on Wayback Machine (index archive))
- "Billionaire Summit: Allen Stanford (video)". CNBC . Retrieved February 17, 2009 . Website
- SEC with details of Stanford case
- Eastern Central Bank of the Bank of Stanford in Antigua
- Ponzi Stanford Scheme: Lessons to Protect Investors from Further Securities Fraud: Heard before the Subcommittee on Monitoring and Investigation of the Financial Services Committee, US House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelve Congresses, First Session, 13 May 2011
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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