Photo by yomanimusBloomberg is reporting that the Houston-based Stanford Group Co. is under investigation by the Feds.
In the aftermath of the Bernie Madoff scandal, both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority want to know how Stanford can keep paying out 4.5 percent returns on its CDs year after year, global economic meltdown or not.The company has denied wrongdoing and has claimed the investigation is routine. More details on that front will fo
Houston has been pining since the Enron days. There's been a whole economic collapse going on, and it seemed like it was passing us by.Not in terms of job losses, of course, although we're doing better than most. But if there are shady businessmen about bilking people out of billions, then dammit, one of them better be a Houstonian.And now one officially is.Rumors have been swirling about the Houston-based Stanford Group, headed by an eccentric (polite for "nuts") guy called Robert Allen Stanfor
Photo by Z_deadWho likes to travel with Houston's newest financial-meltdown icon?Senator John Cornyn, that's who.Talking Points Memo has the goods, via legistorm.com, on a "fact-finding trip" (quotes federally mandated by the US Department of Air Quotes) that Cornyn took on Allen Stanford's dime to Antigua and Barbuda right after the 2004 election."Sen. Cornyn discloses expenses for himself and a companion, but does not disclose the identity of the companion," legistorm.com notes.There are, of c
Photo via wikimedia commonsStanford in his cricket daysAllen Stanford, the man who singlehandedly revived Houston's fading Enron reputation for corporate scams (here's our feature take on him) has finally been indicted.A Houston grand jury indicted him on 21 charges of charged with 21 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.Stanford is expected to appear before a federal judge today, The New York Times reports (with a headline describing him as a
Houston's Allen Stanford has told a federal judge here he's not guilty of a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme; he's also asking to be let out on bail.Stanford's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, told federal magistrate that his client has has a bad week, what with all the transferring between jails.He also, according to the Times of London, says Stanford's now taking Ativan.Mr DeGuerin disclosed in a court filing that Mr Stanford, once ranked the 605th richest person in the world with a fortune of over $2 bill
Allen Stanford, the alleged Ponzi-schemer who led a billionaire's life allegedly on the alleged backs of allegedly bilked investors, doesn't like his jail cell.It's got no air-conditioning, it's dark, it's crowded. In other words, it's a lot like Houston in the weeks after Ike. But we're guessing Stanford didn't stay in town to experience that bit of heaven.Stanford is complaining that the Montgomery County facility he is at is often without power, and he is forced to share a cell with 10 oth
