Stanford Victims Coalition director recalls Ponzi schemer’s apology

There was a moment when Angela Shaw finally came face-to-face with R. Allen Stanford. She was one of only two victims who testified last week at a sentencing hearing for the convicted Ponzi schemer. A 110-year sentence brought her and others at least some solace. Her family lost about $4.5 million—proceeds from the sale of a manufacturing business that the family built in Dallas—but Shaw says her wounds go even deeper as the volunteer director of the Stanford Victims Coalition. She says she gets hundreds of emails and phone calls a day, absorbing the ceaseless pains of others. “They are some sad, pathetic people,” Shaw says of the victims she hears from, most of whom are in their twilight years and suddenly without their life savings. “And I mean that in the most affectionate way. Their lives are destroyed.” Last week, the man who caused all this pain was right before her, swiveling around in his chair at the defense table shortly after his sentence was delivered. “At one point he halfway smiled at me,” she says. “I thought, Why is he smiling at me?” He later came within feet of her. “He said, ‘I’m so, so sorry,’ ” she recalls. “He said it in such a sincere way. Immediately, his eyes teared up. They were real tears. … Then he said, ‘But your government did this.’ He was basically saying, ‘I’m sorry someone else stole your money.’ ” A courtroom officer ordered Shaw to stand back. Read the full story, which also details the coalition’s ongoing battle to recover funds for victims, here.