Late Wednesday afternoon, the Stanford receiver Ralph Janvey filed a $40 million lawsuit with the district court in Texas against 66 Stanford Financial Group advisors, including nine based in Baton Rouge. In Baton Rouge, Ron Clayton, James Fontenot, Gary Haindel, Charles Jantzi, Grady Layfield, Hank Mills, Tim Parsons, John Schwab and Michael Word are among the list of financial advisors who sold Stanford CDs in the SEC-alleged Ponzi scheme. The receiver is claiming the total amount of commission from each financial advisor that they made as a direct result of the sale of fraudulent CDs. The overall amount the receiver is seeking from the group of nine BR-area financial advisors is approximately $5.8 million, with the largest commissions being reclaimed from Hank Mills and Michael Word, who both profited to the tune of more than $1 million each. On average the commissions over a two-year period from all Stanford financial advisors ranged from $2.6 million to just over $200,000 per advisor.
This claim against certain Stanford employees comes the day after Janvey requested the court release numerous accounts held with Louisiana-based Stanford Trust Company. To see a copy of the suit, click here.—Olivia Watkins
