1985
Robert Allen Stanford starts Guardian International Bank on the Caribbean island of Montserrat with $6 million in seed money from an unknown source.
Mid-1990s
Stanford is asked by government officials ?in Montseratt to leave ?the country. He relocates the bank to Antigua and names it Stanford International Bank.
1996
Jay Comeaux, Alvaro Trullenque and their investment team leave Merrill Lynch with the Stanford account to start Stanford Group Company in City Plaza.
1998
Stanford begins selling its disputed certificate of deposit.
1999
Stanford Group Company receives a negative annual supervisory review in which the Securities and Exchange Commission found that some advisers’ actions were inconsistent with the investors’ intentions.
1999
The SEC is told to stand down in an investigation on Stanford by the ?Justice Department.
2001
The first known complaint regarding Stanford’s referral fees is filed with the SEC.
2002
The first known letter from a Stanford insider in Antigua is sent to the SEC detailing the alleged Ponzi scheme.
2003
A complaint is filed with the National Association of Securities Dealers in regards to misleading materials for the CDs.
2006
Regulators require Stanford modify its CD Disclosure Statement.
2007
NASD fines Stanford $20,000 for failing to “establish and maintain a supervisory system reasonably designed to ?achieve compliance with applicable securities laws.”
2007
FINRA fines Stanford $10,000 for distributing literature that “failed to disclose a conflict of interest” between advisers and the bank and also for a failure to present “fair and balanced treatment of the risks and potential benefits of a CD investment.”
2008
FINRA fines the Stanford Group Company $10,000 for a failure to report customer transactions properly.
2008
FINRA files Stanford Group $30,000 for a failure to disclose adviser compensation in published ?research reports.
2008
Alex Dalmady’s Duck Tales blog details how and why Stanford is possibly operating a Ponzi scheme.
Feb. 17, 2009
Federal regulators storm the Houston offices of Stanford Financial Group and issue a freeze on all of the companies and their associated assets.
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