United States v. Robert Allen Stanford et al. - Court Docket Number: H-09-342
This case is assigned to the Honorable David Hittner, United States District Court Judge for the Southern District Texas, United States Courthouse, 515 Rusk Avenue, Houston, Texas. Jury selection and trial is set for August 25, 2009. On July 16, 2009, Judge Hittner entered an order granting a continuance and scheduling a status conference for August 17, 2009. The status conference previously set in the case for August 17, 2009 has been reset for September 10, 2009 at 10 a.m.
On June 19, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas unsealed an indictment, filed under seal on June 18, 2009, charging Robert Allen Stanford, a/k/a Sir Allen Stanford, a/k/a Allen Stanford, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stanford International Bank Ltd. (SIBL), a private, offshore bank with offices on the island of Antigua and elsewhere, and a member of SIBL’s Investment Committee; Laura Pendergest-Holt, a/k/a Laura Pendergest, a/k/a Laura Holt, the Chief Investment Officer of SIBL Stanford Financial Group (SFG), the parent company of SIBL; Gilberto Lopez, Chief Accounting Officer of SFG; Mark Kuhrt, Global Controller for SFG Global Management, an affiliate of SFG and SIBL; and Leroy King, who was the Administrator and Chief Executive Officer for the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC), an agency of the Antiguan government responsible for Antigua’s regulatory oversight of SIBL’s investment portfolio, each with one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud (Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 371); seven counts of wire fraud (Count 2: 18 U.S.C. § 1343); ten counts of mail fraud (Counts 9-18: 18 U.S.C. § 1341), and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering (Count 21: 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h)) stemming from a $7 billion investment fraud scheme. In addition, Stanford, Pendergest-Holt and King are charged with one count of conspiracy to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation (Count 19: 18 U.S.C. § 371) and one count of obstruction of an SEC investigation (Count 20: 18 U.S.C. §1505). The indictment also seeks forfeiture from all the defendants (18 U.S.C. §§ 981(a)(1)(c) and 982(a)(1)).
According to the indictment, Stanford, who controlled SIBL as the sole shareholder of its holding company, and his co-defendants engaged in a scheme to defraud investigators who purchased approximately $7 billion in certificates of deposit administered by Stanford International Bank Ltd. (SIBL), an offshore bank controlled by Stanford and located on the island of Antigua. Stanford and his co-defendants allegedly misused and misappropriated most of those investor assets, including diverting more than $1.6 billion into undisclosed personal loans to Stanford himself, while misrepresenting to investors SIBL’s financial condition, its investment strategy and the extent of its regulatory oversight by Antiguan authorities.
Also, according to the indictment, Stanford, Pendergest-Holt and King conspired to conceal the fraud from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in order to fend off an SEC investigation. King allegedly provided Stanford and others with confidential information that he had received from an official SEC inquiry into a possible fraud on investors by SIBL so that additional false representations concerning SIBL’s financial health and Antiguan regulatory oversight could be made. In addition, Stanford, Pendergest-Holt and others allegedly agreed that Pendergest-Holt would provide false information to the SEC about the true value of SIBL’s investment portfolio.
Defendant Stanford was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy on June 25, 2009, and was granted a bond of $500,000 with a $100,000 cash deposit. Upon further review and a subsequent hearing before Judge Hittner on June 29, 2009, Judge Hittner ordered Stanford to be detained pending trial on the grounds that he is a serious flight risk. Defendant Lopez and Kuhrt were arraigned on June 25, 2009 and were each continued on a $100,000 bond that had previously been set by Magistrate Judge Stacy. Defendant Pendergest-Holt was also arraigned on June 25, 2009, and was continued on a $300,000 bond. Defendant King is under house arrest in Antigua as the Caribbean island processes a request for his extradition to the United States.
In a related case, United States v. James M. Davis (Court Docket H 09- 335), Davis (Stanford Financial Group’s former CFO) is charged in a three count information with conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and securities fraud; mail fraud; and conspiracy to obstruct an SEC investigation. Davis plans to plead guilty to all three counts, which carry a combined statutory maximum sentence of 30 years. A re-arraignment and change of plea hearing is set for August 27, 2009 at 9 a.m. before Judge Hittner in Courtroom 8A. In another related case, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas also unsealed a criminal information, filed on June 18, 2009, charging co-conspirator James Davis, former chief financial officer for SFG and SIBL, with conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud; mail fraud; and conspiracy to obstruct a proceeding of the SEC. In another related case, United States v. Perraud (Court Docket H 09- 601029-CR-Zloch), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida unsealed a criminal information, charging Bruce Perraud, a former global security specialist at the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, office of Stanford Financial Group (SFG), with one count of destruction of records in a federal investigation (18 U.S.C. § 1519) stemming from a $7 billion investment fraud scheme. SFG was a parent company for a web of affiliated financial service providers. Trial is set for September 21, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. before Judge William J. Zloch in Courtroom A, the United States Courthouse, 299 East Broward Boulevard, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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