|  | | 2009 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
Stanford Investors Face Dwindling Hope for Recovery
Scott Cohn
CNBC.com. October 25, 2009
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EXCERPT: Eight months after he seized control of what was left of their life's savings, a court-appointed attorney in Dallas has finally met with investors in the alleged Stanford Ponzi scheme, CNBC has learned. The meeting, which took place Thursday in Dallas, was described by both sides as productive. But the chances it will help investors recover much money are tenuous at best. Attorney Ralph Janvey took control of Stanford's assets in February after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the firm and the court placed it in receivership. The SEC says Stanford ran a massive international Ponzi scheme involving bogus certificates of deposit. The firm's founder, flamboyant Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, has denied wrongdoing. He is being held without bail on federal criminal charges in Houston. While Janvey is supposed to be gathering what is left of Stanford's assets to distribute to investors, he has drawn fury for not communicating with them, and for attempting to collect some $27 million in fees for his work. The meeting appears to have eased some of the tensions, even on the issue of Janvey's fees. "The amount of investigative work the receiver has had to undergo just to make heads or tails of Stanford's scattered assets is astonishing," said Angela Shaw, a founder of the Stanford Victims Coalition who attended the meeting. "This is work that could have been prevented or should have already been done by the criminal prosecutors and the financial regulators," said Shaw, who, along with her husband, lost $2 million invested with Stanford. A spokeswoman for Janvey confirmed the meeting, calling it "positive and productive." "We look forward to assisting the coalition in its continuing efforts on behalf of all the victims of the Stanford fraud," said Kristie Blumenstein of the law firm Krage & Janvey. |
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