Over the past week, news regarding the Stanford case has been leaked into the public arena. One of the first items was a letter written Sept. 1, 2003 by a Stanford “insider” that explicitly detailed the alleged “massive Ponzi scheme” which Stanford Financial was executing. The letter was sent to the National Association of Securities Dealers, Bear Sterns Securities Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Senate Committee, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Wall Street Journal, the Miami Herald and the Washington Post. Read the letter here.
But federal regulators did not seem to pursue any action on the insider letter or any of the other complaints filed as early as 2002 with the SEC, according to information obtained by Fox Business News through a Freedom of Information Act request. According to the SEC, an enforcement investigation began only in 2005. Additional news regarding Stanford obtained again by Fox Business from the SEC as a part of another FOIA request revealed a letter from the former president of Stanford in Venezuela, which described how a number of Stanford’s largest clients at that location were part of organized crime. Read more of the organized crime links here. Criminal charges could be filed against Stanford Financial Group’s chief investment officer, Laura Pendergest-Holt. She will be in court in Dallas on Wednesday to answer to a minimum charge of obstruction of justice.—Olivia Watkins
