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Federal judge orders Stanford assets frozen indefinitely

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday indefinitely froze the assets of financier Allen Stanford at the instance of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Stanford was charged last month with orchestrating a fraudulent $8 billion investment scheme by selling certificates of deposits on the promise of improbably high interest rates. Judge David Godbey also issued an order releasing most customer brokerage accounts over $250,000 that had been frozen since February. Stanford, through his investment companies Stanford International Bank (SIB), Stanford Group Company (SGC) and Stanford Capital Management (SCM) is accused of violating the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. Last month, US District Judge Reed O'Connor issued a temporary restraining order to freeze Stanford's assets, as customers rushed to withdraw their investments from SIB branches in Antigua and Venezuela.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 13, 2009 (boomark / email).