Senators ask for appeal of ruling against Stanford victims

U.S. Sen. David Vitter has sent a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro urging for an appeal of a recent court ruling that the Securities Investor Protection Corporation does not have to compensate those who lost money in the $7 billion Ponzi scheme perpetuated by R. Allen Stanford. “The Stanford Ponzi scheme victims should be first in line for protection, not last in line way behind SIPC’s Wall Street members,” Vitter says in a statement. Sen. Mary Landrieu signed the letter in support, as did a dozen other senators from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas. Blaine Smith of Baton Rouge, an outspoken victim of the Ponzi scheme who pegs his losses at $1 million, recently sent an email to several media outlets saying: “I really can’t find a whole lot to live for anymore. I have had everything stolen from me and my family … Our very own government has failed us time and time again. Where is justice?” In the letter to Schapiro, Vitter says he and the others who signed it hear from victims like Smith routinely. “We have been confronted almost daily with the heartbreaking stories and tragic outcomes that have befallen our constituents,” says the letter, which you can read in its entirety here.