A Lafayette businessman who owns a significant chunk of land on Nicholson Drive lost at least $20 million in the alleged Ponzi scheme perpetuated by R. Allen Stanford before the Stanford Group was closed by U.S. regulators, a former Stanford executive from Baton Rouge has testified.
Bloomberg reports Jason Green, who led Stanford Group’s private-client group, named Mike Moreno of Lafayette as having lost approximately $20 million; Green was being cross-examined by the defense on the fifth day of Stanford’s investor fraud trial in federal court in Houston and is believed to have been referring to the CEO of Moreno Group, a major offshore service company based in Lafayette. A message left for Moreno at the company’s headquarters Monday was not immediately returned.
Moreno was among 49 investors U.S court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey identified as having removed $27 million from certificate of deposit accounts in 2009 as the SEC was shutting Stanford Group down.
Green testified that Moreno entrusted Stanford’s business with almost $50 million before withdrawing some of those funds to address a tax obligation. A $20 million withdrawal request was made shortly before Stanford stopped allowing clients to redeem CDs before their maturity date to stanch the outflow of capital as the global financial crisis deepened.
Moreno—who has amassed an empire in Dynamic Industries, Dynamic Offshore Resources and related Moreno Group companies—has plans for building a smart-growth, new-urbanist development on 30 acres near Magnolia Mound Plantation, tentatively dubbed River District. It marks his first major go-round in the speculative real estate market. He has declined to discuss the investment, which has been mired in confusion regarding its management and which is also the subject of a lawsuit.
Stanford, 61, who was indicted in June 2009, is accused of leading a $7 billion investment fraud centered on CD sales. He is charged with 14 counts, including mail fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of an SEC probe. He denies the charges.
