Allen Stanford Arrested and Charged with Fraud

[Neil Pickup]

You just had to remind me of that, didn't you, ****

It went a long way towards breaking City, too.

 

[pasag]

Colin Croft was saying last night that he knew a number of the younger WI players had invested sizeable amounts of their $1 million into Stanford's schemes with the intention of it lasting them over their lifetimes.

Easy come, easy go...

 

[Jigga988]

Easy come, easy go...

Wasn't easy money to come by tbh, 2 month training camp consisting of lots of fitness work and loads of time was spent as preperation... the match itself was pretty easy though

 

[Richard]

Easy come, easy go...

Little high, little low, hit me where the wind blows doesn't really matter to me... toooooo meeeeeeeeeeee...

 

[pasag]

Wasn't easy money to come by tbh, 2 month training camp consisting of lots of fitness work and loads of time was spent as preperation... the match itself was pretty easy though

1 mil for two months work seems pretty easy to me...

 

[Uppercut]

More pure brilliance from CW's personalised-adverts policy.

Initially I thought it was a caricature of Hingston.

 

[Athlai]

2 months free training, also helping you in your overall career to be the best cricketer you can. Sweet deal IMO.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Yeah, but probably for some of them their one chance to earn something that puts them up with the Indian , English and Australian players of the world. Only Gayle is a high profile IPL player, and their wouldn't be the endorsement or contracts available like there are for the players under the stronger boards.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Big problems for the population of Antigua, the economy of which is pretty much built on Stanford. Tony Cozier has just been talking about queues outside the Stanford banks in St John's. Not good.

 

[Fusion]

Portrait of an (Alleged) Scam Artist
by Vera H-C Chan
February 18, 2009 01:03:29 PM​

Being a Texas billionaire who loved cricket should've raised some red flags immediately. Now Robert Allen Stanford may be charged as the newest scam artist on the financial block...once the Securities and Exchange Commission finds him.

Not that Searchers haven't been looking for the money manager themselves. Queries for "allen stanford" (also known—and misspelled—online as "robert allen stanford," "r allen stanford," "sir alan stanford," and the like) popped up into the top 5,000 searches after a "caravan" of feds drove up February 17 and took over the headquarters of his financial services company, the Stanford Group, under charges of old-fashioned fraud.

Sir Stanford, however, wasn't there to hand over the keys and to face charges, although his cohorts were. His whereabouts were unknown. One report says he tried to hire a private jet to fly to his Caribbean home but ignominiously failed due to a rejected credit card. It appears only wire transfers are acceptable from sweaty-palmed financiers.

The Stanford Group (which has more than 50 offices spread across six continents), ratcheted triple the searches of its founder. Stanford, however, may only be a pip-squeak version of Bernie Madoff: Despite allegedly perpetuating an $8 billion fraud (Madoff's damage is an estimated $50 billion), there's no evidence of a Ponzi scheme here, according to The Business Insider.

The fraud involved telling customers that the CDs they were buying came from investments in "easily sellable financial instruments, monitored by more than 20 analysts and audited by regulators on the Caribbean island of Antigua." Instead, Stanford and chief financial officer—otherwise known as the accomplice—James Davis allegedly handled the whole thing, hid 90 percent from oversight, and funneled a chunk into not-so-easy-to-sell assets like real estate and private equity investments.

Still, the why of Stanford's alleged fraud demands an explanation, and people have been seeking clues into the fifth-generation Texan's background ("r allen stanford biography"). His Sir title came courtesy of Antigua—although its prime minister once called him "haughty, arrogant and obnoxious." The West Indies island is also where he based his Stanford International Bank and flamboyantly funded the Stanford Superstars cricket team, which beat mighty England in November and won $20 million. Unfortunately, the chance to recoup any losses through cricket is nil for now: The Wall Street Journal reported that the English Cricket Board "suspended negotiations with Mr. Stanford about further matches."

Also, as might be expected from someone who had $2.2 billion to his name, Stanford donated to political campaigns, and Republican senators are now moving fast to shuffle contributions to charity. (They might want to consider St. Jude Hospital, which Stanford had supported.)

The Baylor University graduate also once claimed kinship to Leland Stanford, the founder of the private California university, but the school sued in October to stop that nonsense. That lawsuit will probably have to move a little further down on the financier's docket

The Buzz Log - Portrait of an (Alleged) Scam Artist - Yahoo! Buzz

 

[bryce]

Apparently he is also under FBI investigation for money laundering on behalf of a major Mexican drug cartel, would explain why he chose Antigua as his base

 

[silentstriker]

1 mil for two months work seems pretty easy to me...

Yea, but a lot of these young kids have no other marketable skills. And cricket career is a short time in your life, plus its not like they would ever have been super rich playing in WI. For many of them, this could be their only chance at providing some sort of comfort for themselves and their family. I definitely think its sad.

If this happened to Dhoni, it'd be one thing, since he isn't going to be out on the streets if he loses a million. WI has had some Test players becoming homeless and many are very close to it, and it's an absolute shame considering the skill with which they entertained so many people.

 

[nightprowler10]

Yeah I agree with SS here.

 

[pup11]

Never liked the guy one bit since he called test cricket "boring", and the cricket gods have rightfully brought him down for that....

Anyways on a more serious note, no matter how ridiculous Stanford and his tournament was, the thing is he was bringing in huge money into West Indian and English cricket, and that sort of a thing could have revoked the interest of a lot of youngsters in cricket, i am especially talking about the situation in West Indies.

Having said that Stanford's whole idea to inject so much cash into this venture, without any foreseeable profits, was pretty much too good to be true, and it doesn't surprise me one bit that he has turned out to be a fraud.

One has to feel bad for the players and for the situation they are now in, but i think the ECB and WICB should learn a lesson from this, and not get involved with idiots like Stanford in the future.

 

[pasag]

Yea, but a lot of these young kids have no other marketable skills. And cricket career is a short time in your life, plus its not like they would ever have been super rich playing in WI. For many of them, this could be their only chance at providing some sort of comfort for themselves and their family. I definitely think its sad.

If this happened to Dhoni, it'd be one thing, since he isn't going to be out on the streets if he loses a million. WI has had some Test players becoming homeless and many are very close to it, and it's an absolute shame considering the skill with which they entertained so many people.

It's definitely sad to an extent, but as they say, things that are too good to be true...

On the sympathy scale I have a lot more for the hard working people who lost all their money and their jobs because of him and much less to the people who were fooled by his promises of riches and ideas about never having to work again from a few months work.

 

[silentstriker]

It's definitely sad to an extent, but as they say, things that are too good to be true...

Well, the money offered was legitimate and they did receive the payment. Of course, they were young and were probably in awe of a billionaire, and of course if he or one of his people told them to invest it back in his company, they likely would. I don't think they were blinded by greed or anything. Most young atheletes, I doubt, have a sound financial plan (unless of course they are superstars and are smart enough to higher an adviser). And of course, having sympathy for those who lost their jobs and livelihoods does not preclude one from having sympathy for these guys as well.

I don't see it as a falling for some random scam. It wasn't a foolish promise to be paid a million dollars, it was legitimate prize money in a legitimate competition after which they were paid appropriately. This guy gave them more money than they've ever seen (young guys, not seniors like Gayle), so obviously they are going to listen to him and his advice.

 

[silentstriker]

Oh, and LOL at his attempted escape from the US. I guess he was hoping Antigua wouldn't extradite or something?

 

[pasag]

Well, the money offered was legitimate and they did receive the payment. Of course, they were young and were probably in awe of a billionaire, and of course if he or one of his people told them to invest it back in his company, they likely would. I don't think they were blinded by greed or anything. Most young atheletes, I doubt, have a sound financial plan (unless of course they are superstars and are smart enough to higher an adviser). And of course, having sympathy for those who lost their jobs and livelihoods does not preclude one from having sympathy for these guys as well.

I don't see it as a falling for some random scam. It wasn't a foolish promise to be paid a million dollars, it was legitimate prize money in a legitimate competition after which they were paid appropriately. This guy gave them more money than they've ever seen (young guys, not seniors like Gayle), so obviously they are going to listen to him and his advice.

I don't think they fell for 'greed' either or that there was anything wrong with what they did at all or illegitimate. It's just hard to be too sympathetic here. At the end of the day they were given an absurd amount of money for very little and then that was taken away by the same guy. Things balanced out and normal service resumes.

 

[Uppercut]

Yea, but a lot of these young kids have no other marketable skills. And cricket career is a short time in your life, plus its not like they would ever have been super rich playing in WI. For many of them, this could be their only chance at providing some sort of comfort for themselves and their family. I definitely think its sad.

If this happened to Dhoni, it'd be one thing, since he isn't going to be out on the streets if he loses a million. WI has had some Test players becoming homeless and many are very close to it, and it's an absolute shame considering the skill with which they entertained so many people.

Actually, i don't think cricketers (or any sportsmen) should be exempt from having to get a real job like the rest of us if their sporting skills alone won't support them.

 

[Craig]

If he has ruined the lives of so many hard working innocent people (like those who work in the bank) then IMO he should not have another second of freedom again.

And I had to laugh at the irony of this photo: