You know, it would be amusing (in a not at all funny way) if this whole Stanford thing turned out to be much ado about nothing. Could it be that it really was “former disgruntled employees”?
R. Allen Stanford, the billionaire chairman of Houston-based investment firm Stanford Group Co., blamed “former disgruntled employees” for stoking regulatory probes into his firm.
Stanford Group is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because they didn’t want to put their jobs at risk. The agencies are examining the company’s sales of certificates of deposit issued by its Antigua-based affiliate, Stanford International Bank Ltd., and the consistent, above- average returns those investments paid, the people said.
“We are all aware that former disgruntled employees have gone to the regulators questioning our work and our processes,” Stanford said yesterday in an e-mail to staff members that was obtained by Bloomberg News. “This could have compounded an otherwise routine examination.”
Investigators from Finra visited six Stanford Group offices last month, downloaded information from computer hard drives and looked through files, the people said.
“And I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for those pesky disgruntled employees!”
Stanford Blames ‘Former Disgruntled’ Workers in Probe [Bloomberg]
Texas, figures.
hey EP, how about a posting on the WSJ article this morning implying the big guy might have used insider info and/or a zamboni in shorting FFH?
Too long; didn’t read.
Of course it is disgruntled former employees. Who else is going to turn him in and give evidence?
If Stanford isn’t a sham, you would hear him say “We loook forward to resolving this with the SEC” blah blah rather than angrily going after the whistle-blowers.
This is like the gun-toting crook who gets dragged out by the cops screaming “Stupid pigs!” rather than thinking “Hey, I just tried holding up a 7/11 with a gun”.
@1 – slow your roll…
@3 – good call. but ffh is a shady operation. they hired an investment banker to be cfo, who then left after less than a year on the job. now he’s at bankofamerrillwide…
this could be yet another black eye for the ever “vigilant” sec on the heals of the markopolous revelations…
Someone should investigate what Stanford is doing with its 3 offices in Columbia (two in Bogota and one in Medellín)….
If he is a billionaire and wasn’t smart enough to grease the democratic party wheels, he might as well head for Mexico/Israel/Antigua…..he’s toast.
Too Scooby, didn’t Doo.
@3- that article is barely incriminating for SAC, more so for kynikos.
http://www.stanfordinternationalbank.com/SIBL_Dec08.pdf
Maybe it was a “disgruntled former employee” who panicked in November 2008 and had to double the capital of the bank so that it “was in conformity” with “Bassel I” guidelines.
Why doesn’t Stanford International Bank give us risk weighted capital ratios?
Why did the company send out a press release lamenting the death of a consultant (Gen. David baker) one day after his death, yet kept the death of their auditor silent for at least a month?
If it is true that Most recently, “the International Monetary Fund reviewed compliance with Bassel I Core Principles for banking supervision” can you supply the name of the person at the IMF who reviewed the bank’s compliance with Basel I principles?
If no one has ever lost a dime in an FDIC insured institution, what the heck is “excess FDIC insurance?”
Wasn’t Chanos pimping out Ashley Dupree?
Didn’t Stanford realize that if you’re running a scam, it’s a good idea to keep your employees from becoming disgruntled?
@10 sort of. Looks like they were involved in legimate forensic analysis but stepped out of bounds in terms of the procedures for FD. Its not like they put the position on because of the imminent research, more that this guy also thought FFH was a fraud
@13
That may have been one of the few things Madoff seemed to have a solid grasp of, but I digress
re: FFH, um, impending (further) clusterf*ck in 3…2…1…
@1
Because nothing crooked ever happens in respectable places like … NYC.
Chanos does like women with a…certain zest for living.
“former disgruntled employees” = “employees whose wives i banged”
I think they have an email saying “lets cover into this” when they had info on an upcoming report.
I’m not saying this is illegal, everyone does this crap and Cramer has publicly admitted to it. I just figured since EP and Bess and such big Stevie fans the article deserved a post.
Apparently it was too long, not enough commodes
The company paid a 1 percent fee to advisers to stuff their client’s assets into Stanford Bank’s CD’s that yielded multiples of other CD’s, and there is any debate if this is a Ponzi? Maybe for Mary Schapiro.
Texas, the afterbirth of a Nation!!
DB mgmt should start one of those “who can guess the closest” games, in which we try to guess how many years ago these “disgruntled former employees” actually notified the SEC of their suspicions.
Until proven otherwise, I’m operating on the assumption that any new announcements from the SEC of fund managers they’re investigating, are the fruit of recently issued orders to SEC staffers to start going through their dusty files where they’ve been dumping perfectly credible tips re securities fraud for the past 10+ years.
New York, birthplace of corruption!!
hahaha 21
Deputize Bernie MadeOff and he will roll up this Stanford con is a couple of days. Save the public some money.
21&23 – solution: split the US up so that diametrically opposed areas of the country don’t have to be burdened or force fed different ideologies.
Ah, to dream.
@21 — I am not a MORMON!!
i heard bess doesnt go down without a fight as well
@28- you’ve obviously been getting bad intel…
@29 – first hand experience! pls share
“SIB has been audited by a local Antiguan firm, CAS Hewlett, the chief executive of which, Charlesworth A. S. “Shelley” Hewlett, died last month. A spokesman for the firm could not comment on SIB and said the auditing business was being taken over by one of Mr Hewlett’s children, currently based in Britain….”
FT today.
The victim was 72. te.
From his firm site, which appears not yet to mention his loss,
“Mr Charlesworth Hewlett, oft-known as Shelley among colleagues and associates, was born at Blubber Valley in the parish of St. Mary’s on the island of Antigua in the West Indies in 1936.” There’s more about his qualifications, but Blubber Valley sounds reassuring in itself. Also, “two children and two grandchildren,” providing depth and backup should mortality strike the current heir and auditor.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/854cdce8-f971-11dd-90c1-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
“meddling”, babydoll. “i would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you *meddling* disgruntled former employees.”
for #21: have noticed many times that folks who feel compelled to (anonymously) take shots at Texas/Texans all seem to have serious gender confusion issues; along with a heapin’ dollop of entirely justified self-hatred.
i don’t know what a psychiatrist would make of this – but it’s probably not good.
@21, six nations actually, Yank
@32
comment to @21 = direct hit
32
good one
but you’re still a chimp
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51C52K20090213
The cocktail party is over. Antigua is on the case and will get to the bottom of this.
Stanford group’s returns should be good. Everyone in the Caribbean knows is probably a money laundering front. You have to investigate its Antigua ops to figure that out and look at its relations with the antiguan gov’t. Antigua has a reputation.
Stanford group’s returns should be good. Everyone in the Caribbean knows it is probably a money laundering front. You have to investigate its Antigua ops to figure that out and look at its relations with the antiguan gov’t. Antigua has a reputation.
Start with Zaragosa
ps to 31: Son of Hewlett:
“Currently” this promising olive branch has the branch office in “Enfield,” modestly available in a directory as
“C A S Hewlett & Co., an accountant offering their services around Enfield
Name : C A S Hewlett & Co.
Address : 61a Southbury Road
Zip/Postcode : EN1 1PJ”
and the phone, fax and email being left blank.
Unpretentious modesty is apparently the keynote.
Stanford Group is just plain odd. I work for a rival firm – a wire house and we recently had some brokers leave for Stanford… all employees are givem this goofy gold lapel pin of an eagle or something and they HAVE to wear it to work. This seemed odd to me when I heard it – very cult like… weird – they were marketing the Cd’s to clients. The way it worked was this: They would tell client about CD – then client had to take their money from the Stanford account – deposit it to their regular bank account and then wire it to the bank in Antigua… sounded odd to me – in this environment WHAT IDIOT CLIENT WOULD GO FOR SUCH A DEAL!!!???
Xwe7lU Im obliged for the blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Great.