Nice gig! Source: Stanford Borrowed $1.6 Billion From Firm By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: February 27, 2009 Filed at 11:38 a.m. ET HOUSTON (AP) -- The chief investment officer of troubled Stanford Financial Group was due in court Friday, as new details emerged showing the head of the firm borrowed $1.6 billion from the troubled company's assets. Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford is the ''Executive A'' referred to in court documents filed against his chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it is an ongoing investigation. Pendergest-Holt is due in court in Houston on charges she obstructed the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of Stanford's financial group. Documents filed in Pendergest-Holt's case indicate that Stanford, the executive at the center of what the SEC says is an $8 billion investment swindle, grew irate at a meeting of executives earlier this month as the feds closed in. The court papers say that people who attended the Feb. 5 meeting in Miami described Stanford pounding the table and saying, ''The assets are there.'' At another meeting, the documents say, it was revealed that Stanford had taken a $1.6 billion loan from the company's assets. Stanford was served legal papers by FBI agents last week and ordered to surrender his passport, but has not been charged with a crime. Pendergest-Holt was arrested Thursday in Houston, where Stanford Financial Group is based. The FBI said she was taken to the federal detention center and would appear in federal court Friday morning for an arraignment. ''She is looking forward to working with the government to get all the facts out and put this behind her,'' her attorney Brent Baker said Thursday night. The government alleges in a federal complaint that Pendergest-Holt obstructed the investigation with some of her answers to SEC investigators' questions, including failing to reveal to the SEC how much she knew about investments in Stanford International Bank Ltd. The FBI said in an affidavit that Pendergest-Holt repeatedly misrepresented how much she knew about the bank's Tier III portfolio, which represented about 81 percent of the bank's portfolio, and did not let the SEC investigators know about the $1.6 billion loan. The complaint also alleges that Pendergest-Holt did not reveal that she was a member of the bank's investment committee. ''We appreciate the quick and decisive action of the Department of Justice and the FBI, and thank them for their fine work and cooperation in this matter,'' SEC Deputy Enforcement Director Scott Friestad said in an e-mail. Stanford is accused in civil charges of lying about the safety of investments he sold as ''certificates of deposit'' and promised unrealistically high rates of return. Regulators also said he faked historical data about other investments which he then used to lure in more investors for the CD products. Michael Zarich, the company's senior investment officer, has told authorities he didn't know where 90 percent of Stanford's portfolio was invested. Zarich has said he was trained by Pendergest-Holt to deflect questions about the investment strategy while pitching to wealthy clients in Antigua, where the bank was chartered. When he tried to learn how the money was invested, Zarich has said Pendergest-Holt and Stanford's deputy James Davis turned him away. Zarich also has said Pendergest-Holt armed him with answers for potential investors worried about the size of Stanford's tiny, Antigua-based auditor.
don't be to hard on him,. he's one of the most productive members of society the cnbc keep referring to
Look like many people tried to buy time by lying and keeping the true numbers a secret. AIG auditor was not allowed some information too. Interesting. http://www.businessinsider.com/2008...-auditor-quit-in-protest-about-cds-valuations Not to go away from the thread, but it is the same secrecy.
You know, Madoff, at least you could claim he looked and acted the part. This piece of shit was , to anyone with half a brain, a spendthrift sleazebag ON THE FACE OF IT. That , coupled with the fact that he did business on those Islands where you can probably buy the Governor or whatever they call themselves for $100 and a ham sandwich. I never even hear of this idiot, I don't go looking for trouble. Apparently the world is full of even more imbeciles than I'd imagined. And I'd imagined many.