Caracas, Venezuela. April 28, 2010. Citizens of Latin America, victims of the pyramidal fraud perpetrated by the US citizen R. Allen Stanford, today represented by the Coalición Víctimas de Stanford América Latina, demand justice and beg for help from 75 US Legislators to recover their savings that were stolen by a U.S. citizen, in complicity with a group of US Congressmen, before the inexplicable incompetence of the US regulatory agencies and the compromising silence of the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
In regards to the robbery of the 7.2 billion US dollars, Jaime R. Escalona Leader of the Coalition said: “For more than 10 years, R. Allen Stanford and his accomplices perpetrated a massive Ponzi scheme, cleverly orchestrated, through the sales of certificates of deposit (CDs) issued by Stanford International Bank Limited (SIBL)”.
In regards to the profile of Latin American depositors, Escalona explained: “The majority of Latin American victims affected are honest people, many are elderly, ill or close to retirement. Of the 27,992 clients distributed in 113 countries around the world, more than 84% are foreign victims (non US citizens)”.
In regards to Stanford International Bank Limited (SIBL), Escalona said: “Even though SIBL had its domicile in St. John’s – Antigua, the operations were controlled and administered from the United States by US citizens – subject to the jurisdiction of the US Courts”.
In regards to the legality of the Certificates of Deposit (CDs), the Leader of the Coalition remarked: “All 27,992 of Stanford’s victims were robbed of their savings with the same financial instrument: certificates of deposit (CDs) issued by SIBL domiciled in Antigua. SIBL marketed the CDs to investors in the United States exclusively through SGC (Stanford Group Company) advisers pursuant to a Regulation “D” private placement”.
This document concludes with the following considerations:
The US Government was a necessary accomplice in the perpetration of this pyramidal fraud. Its inefficiencies and/or negligence of its regulatory agencies such as the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation), the Department of Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and dozens of state regulatory agencies of securities and banking among others, permanently ignored all the complaints received including the complaints from Stanford’s own employees, warning of this Ponzi scheme that has ruined the lives of thousands of families around the world.
According to the Report of Investigation of the Office of Inspector General of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission – Case No. OIG-526, dated March 31, 2010, the SEC’s office in Fort Worth, Texas, knew since 1997 that R. Allen Stanford was presumably operating a pyramidal fraud. But the Examiners at that office were not able to convince the irresponsible and incompetent accomplices of SEC’s Enforcement Division in Fort Worth to open an investigation that could have stopped the sale of the CDs in time and in consequence could have avoided this social catastrophe.
R. Allen Stanford maintained his fraudulent business thanks to the diligent participation of a significant group of unscrupulous US Congressmen who succeeded in blocking the enactment of financial laws that could have uncovered Stanford’s frauds.
The US Government through the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), irresponsibly did not act against R. Allen Stanford and his businesses, even though there was justified suspicion for more than a decade about his criminal actions. On the contrary, in 1999 the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) of the United States forced R. Allen Stanford to write them a check for $3.1 million dollars derived from drug trafficking. Why did the DEA, instead of paralyzing his companies and putting him behind bars, convert him into a confidential informant without any concern for the investor’s economic future? Is it possible that because R. Allen Stanford was a DEA informant, his criminal empire was spared for more than a decade?
Escalona concluded saying “The US Government must accept its role and assume its enormous responsibility before the Latin American victims with the immediate restitution of their patrimony that was so cruelly stolen from them”.
Contact:
Jaime R. Escalona
Leader Coalición Victimas de Stanford
América Latina (COVISAL)
E-mail: jaenrodes@gmail.com;
victimasdestanford@gmail.com
Telephone: (512) 377-9255
