Any Allen Stanford interview that doesn’t come with tears or promises to “die and go to hell if [this] is a Ponzi scheme” or threats to punch his interviewer in the mouth or at the very least take place within earshot of a cocktail lounge is going to be something of a letdown. That much is obvious. He’s spoiled us, and if you’re going to kick off your media blitz with salty discharge and threats of assault, you’d better have something good down the road. Nevertheless, here are some highlights from the latest meet and greet with CNBC’s Scott Cohn, on the matter of Stanford Financial possibly being a massive fraud.
Q: At the heart of the allegations from the sec are the returns you claimed and the interest you paid on the CDs: 7.45% in 2005, 7.87% in 2006, 5.375% last year when prevailing interest rates were a whole lot lower and you couldn’t get a CD in this country paying more than about 2 percent. How did you do it if it wasn’t a Ponzi scheme?
A: First of all how did we pay 2 billion in early redemption of CDs in October, November, December, early January of this year without having the Fed to go to like the big banks here? Citibank and Bank of America and Wachovia– just going down the line–ran out of money, and they had to go to the Federal Reserve to get money to pay their depositors or they wouldn’t have had any money. We stood on our own two feet with no fed window to go to and that right there tells you it’s no Ponzi scheme.
Q: So these weren’t fictitious returns?
A: No…though there were some things I found out in meetings that my attorney has instructed me not to discuss.
Q: Did you have investments with Madoff?
A: I asked our CFO, “did we have any exposure to Madoff?” He said “no.” Later on I found out we had a 400k exposure. So in the scope of things I guess It was minimal. But the answer would’ve been yes, we did have exposure to the tune of $400K is what I was told later but in terms of our investments that was nothing so there, there’s your answer.
Q: Tell me about what these funds were invested in that allowed you to do so well…How were you doing so much better than everyone else?
A: Well, it’s all relative. How much better were we doing? A couple of points better. We weren’t doing any double digit returns. No, that’s a misnomer. But you’ve got to look at our structure. We were in a low tax jurisdiction. You had one sole shareholder myself, who was not looking to see the benefits for himself.. In other words shareholders were not the primary driving business, modus operandi, it was to get the client the most money, that was the modus operandi.
Earlier: Sir Stanford: “You’re F’ing Right I’m Gonna Fight”
now he’s blaming the cfo? c’mon man…
answering a question with a question? This guy is a class act.
Allen,
Why did you tell people you were related to Leland Stanford? Why did you tell people your company’s history went back to 1932? Why did you tell people you were knighted by the Earl of Wessex? Why did you tell people you ran a $50B empire when you only had $6B in your broker/dealer and $8B at the bank in Antigua (that’s not quite $50B)?
Start with the small lies and move on to the others. Give us something to believe your whole empire wasn’t built entirely on lies, large and small.
he misused the word misnomer 3 times…. idiot
I like him, he’s got a cool mustache and a good attitude…he reminds me of an older and wiser Jack Bauer
Wasn’t the CFO a She?
@6 I think the CFO was pre-op
@6 I think the CFO was pre-op
The CIO was a Laura. The CFO was Jim Davis. As chance would have it, Jim was fucking Laure. The joke in Houston is that since laura is 35 and facing 25 years in federal prison she is trying to cut a plea deal so she has at least a chance of having sex at sometime in her life with someone under the age of 60.
It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is.
Hi, I’m a finance employee in New York. Which side of Houston is Stanford on, Tribeca or the Village?
Guest@#3…
“Why did you tell people you were knighted by the Earl of Wessex?”
From the wires Feb 16th, 2009…
———————————
Stanford calls himself “Sir” Allen Stanford, on account of a knighthood he was awarded by the former prime minister of Antigua, where his business is based. But it looks like maybe that wasn’t quite good enough for Stanford, since until recently he was claiming, falsely, that the knighthood was presented by the British Royal family.
Check out this report (via Nexis), from last November in the Mail on Sunday of London:
Texan-born billionaire Sir Allen Stanford’s corporate website claims that, after he became a citizen of the Commonwealth territory of Antigua, it appointed him a ‘Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of the Nation’.
‘He was presented [with] this honour by His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex,’ states the website.
However, The Mail on Sunday has learned that the Prince had nothing to do with the honour and that it was not approved by the Queen.
…
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said it was a coincidence that the knighthood ceremony, conducted by an Antiguan political appointee, took place during a celebration of the island’s independence, at which Prince Edward was a guest.
‘It is incorrect to say that the Earl of Wessex knighted this person while in Antigua,’ said the spokesman.
Stanford’s personal web site now says only that the Earl of Wessex attended the ceremony at which the “royal knighthood” was bestowed. (Though the “royal” part still seem dubious, since Buckingham Palace has disavowed any role in the proceeding.)
———————————-
TGFD has some knowledge of these matters, and I know that the Earl of Wessex / HRH Prince Edward does not knight anyone. HRH may nominate someone for that honour, but the awarding of same is always at the discretion of the Sovereign.
When TGFD first heard that Wessex had “knighted” Stanford, I knew it to be bullshit.
The Guy from Delaware
Guest@#3…
“Why did you tell people you were knighted by the Earl of Wessex?”
From the wires Feb 16th, 2009…
———————————
Stanford calls himself “Sir” Allen Stanford, on account of a knighthood he was awarded by the former prime minister of Antigua, where his business is based. But it looks like maybe that wasn’t quite good enough for Stanford, since until recently he was claiming, falsely, that the knighthood was presented by the British Royal family.
Check out this report (via Nexis), from last November in the Mail on Sunday of London:
Texan-born billionaire Sir Allen Stanford’s corporate website claims that, after he became a citizen of the Commonwealth territory of Antigua, it appointed him a ‘Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of the Nation’.
‘He was presented [with] this honour by His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex,’ states the website.
However, The Mail on Sunday has learned that the Prince had nothing to do with the honour and that it was not approved by the Queen.
…
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said it was a coincidence that the knighthood ceremony, conducted by an Antiguan political appointee, took place during a celebration of the island’s independence, at which Prince Edward was a guest.
‘It is incorrect to say that the Earl of Wessex knighted this person while in Antigua,’ said the spokesman.
Stanford’s personal web site now says only that the Earl of Wessex attended the ceremony at which the “royal knighthood” was bestowed. (Though the “royal” part still seem dubious, since Buckingham Palace has disavowed any role in the proceeding.)
———————————-
TGFD has some knowledge of these matters, and I know that the Earl of Wessex / HRH Prince Edward does not knight anyone. HRH may nominate someone for that honour, but the awarding of same is always at the discretion of the Sovereign.
When TGFD first heard that Wessex had “knighted” Stanford, I knew it to be bullshit.
The Guy from Delaware
12/13-
Stanford knew he wasn’t, in fact, knighted by the Earl of Wessex. The question Allen should have been asked was why we should consider him to be credible in his denials when he has a long track record of lying whenever it suited his purposes.
@ 9 that might be the least entertaining joke I’ve ever heard. Was it structured by cows?
TGFD thinks you should look at this.
Delaware / Chester County, PA now have their own ponzi schemers. This article was on the front page of today’s Wilmington Rag.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090421/NEWS/90421001/1006
TGFD has seen this clown play polo a number of times.
The Guy from Delaware
Before Inzon, there was Elandia. Victims of Elandia fraud, the Ahkoy Family is now suing Elandia in Pacific and Florida courts. Elandia’s Allen Stanford and Sydney D. “Trip” Camper orchestrated the Ponzi scheme against Datec, the Ahkoy family business. When Elandia was exposed, Allen Stanford forced Sydney Camper to resign and before it was official, Sydney Camper found his next fraud victim in Los Angeles – a private and profitable company with aspirations to go public. With the help of his new partner in crime Edward G. Berkhof, Sydney Camper formed a “shell” holding company and together they pretended to be the owners of this private company, arranged a trip to London, opened up secret bank accounts, performed an illegal hostile takeover, and ruined the los angeles company in the same fashion as Datec, the Ahkoy family business.
Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford is in the hands of the FBI while swindlers Sydney Camper and Ed Berkhof are STILL at large. Investors Beware! Sydney Camper is a fraud and uses his stamped passport, donations to St. Jude’s and Stanford Group references to gain trust. According to Google, he now hones his Ponzi skills at InZon. According to recent articles, “FMC Telecom Acquires SMS” and FMC Telecom founder Frank Cassidy is either a NEW partner in crime for Ed Berkhof OR he is simply ANOTHER victim fallen prey to Ed Berkhof’s web of lies and empty promises to “take a company public”. Ed Berkhof is neither a President, COO or Investor of anything. Ed Berkhof is a con artist and a has-been third rate bass player from Florida trying to find a payday.
The SEC and the FBI are investigating Allen Stanford’s business relatives and continuing their search for serial swindlers such as Sydney Camper and Ed Berkhof.
View links below for more information on Elandia/Ahkoy:
http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.v6Q98.c.htm
http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.v6Q98.d.htm
Before Inzon, there was Elandia. Victims of Elandia fraud, the Ahkoy Family is now suing Elandia in Pacific and Florida courts. Elandia’s Allen Stanford and Sydney D. “Trip” Camper orchestrated the Ponzi scheme against Datec, the Ahkoy family business. When Elandia was exposed, Allen Stanford forced Sydney Camper to resign and before it was official, Sydney Camper found his next fraud victim in Los Angeles – a private and profitable company with aspirations to go public. With the help of his new partner in crime Edward G. Berkhof, Sydney Camper formed a “shell” holding company and together they pretended to be the owners of this private company, arranged a trip to London, opened up secret bank accounts, performed an illegal hostile takeover, and ruined the los angeles company in the same fashion as Datec, the Ahkoy family business.
Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford is in the hands of the FBI while swindlers Sydney Camper and Ed Berkhof are STILL at large. Investors Beware! Sydney Camper is a fraud and uses his stamped passport, donations to St. Jude’s and Stanford Group references to gain trust. According to Google, he now hones his Ponzi skills at InZon. According to recent articles, “FMC Telecom Acquires SMS” and FMC Telecom founder Frank Cassidy is either a NEW partner in crime for Ed Berkhof OR he is simply ANOTHER victim fallen prey to Ed Berkhof’s web of lies and empty promises to “take a company public”. Ed Berkhof is neither a President, COO or Investor of anything. Ed Berkhof is a con artist and a has-been third rate bass player from Florida trying to find a payday.
The SEC and the FBI are investigating Allen Stanford’s business relatives and continuing their search for serial swindlers such as Sydney Camper and Ed Berkhof.
View links below for more information on Elandia/Ahkoy:
http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.v6Q98.c.htm
http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.v6Q98.d.htm
Before Inzon, there was Elandia. Victims of Elandia fraud, the Ahkoy Family is now suing Elandia in Pacific and Florida courts. Elandia’s Allen Stanford and Sydney D. “Trip” Camper orchestrated the Ponzi scheme against Datec, the Ahkoy family business. When Elandia was exposed, Allen Stanford forced Sydney Camper to resign and before it was official, Sydney Camper found his next fraud victim in Los Angeles – a private and profitable company with aspirations to go public. With the help of his new partner in crime Edward G. Berkhof, Sydney Camper formed a “shell” holding company and together they pretended to be the owners of this private company, arranged a trip to London, opened up secret bank accounts, performed an illegal hostile takeover, and ruined the los angeles company in the same fashion as Datec, the Ahkoy family business.
Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford is in the hands of the FBI while swindlers Sydney Camper and Ed Berkhof are STILL at large. Investors Beware! Sydney Camper is a fraud and uses his stamped passport, donations to St. Jude’s and Stanford Group references to gain trust. According to Google, he now hones his Ponzi skills at InZon. According to recent articles, “FMC Telecom Acquires SMS” and FMC Telecom founder Frank Cassidy is either a NEW partner in crime for Ed Berkhof OR he is simply ANOTHER victim fallen prey to Ed Berkhof’s web of lies and empty promises to “take a company public”. Ed Berkhof is neither a President, COO or Investor of anything. Ed Berkhof is a con artist and a has-been third rate bass player from Florida trying to find a payday.
The SEC and the FBI are investigating Allen Stanford’s business relatives and continuing their search for serial swindlers such as Sydney Camper and Ed Berkhof.
View links below for more information on Elandia/Ahkoy:
http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.v6Q98.c.htm
http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.v6Q98.d.htm