Stanford Not Going Down Without A Fight
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]