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Fraud allegations mount: Louisiana's attorney general targets The Stanford Group; voice your opinion now
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(June 17, 2009 - Wednesday) - http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20090617/NEWS01/906170327/1002/NEWS01/Fraud-allegations-mount--Louisiana-s-attorney-general-targets-The-Stanford-Group--voice-your-opinion-now
Jeff Moore • jeffmoore@theadvertiser.com • June 17, 2009
Local investors who lost money to The Stanford Group could help build a criminal case against the firm.
Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell announced Tuesday that his office has launched a criminal investigation of The Stanford Group, which is also the subject of the numerous federal investigations.
The state investigation will try to determine what Louisiana laws have been broken.
The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Stanford Group in February of carrying out a massive pyramid investment scheme involving the fraudulent sale of $8 billion in certificates of deposit.
The firm promised high rates of return to investors, then lied to customers about how their money was being invested, the complaint alleged.
The Stanford Group, based in Houston, opened an office in Baton Rouge in the 1990s along with another Stanford entity, Stanford Trust Co.
The company also operated an office in River Ranch in Lafayette.
"We're almost certain there are people in Lafayette that lost money," said Scott Bailey, an investigator with the attorney general's Special Prosecutions Unit. "The entire Interstate 10 corridor was pretty big Stanford territory."
Bailey said the state attorney general's office wants to identify victims and determine the total amount of losses. The number of Louisiana investors affected is believed to be in the hundreds, he said.
"The biggest thing we want is for every Louisiana consumer who has lost money," to notify the attorney general's office, Bailey said. "That way we can begin to put together our criminal investigation and prosecute the people who are responsible for this."
The state attorney general's office has created a link on its Web site, laag.org, for residents who believe they were defrauded by the Stanford Group.
Investors can print out a victim registration form on the Web site and send it, along with relevant documentation, to Bailey's attention at the Louisiana Department of Justice Special Prosecutions Unit, 1885 N. Third St., Baton Rouge, LA 70802.
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