Rick Raw: Robert Stanford–Madoff’s Evil Twin Swindler

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Here we go again! Another major crook was created by Allen Greenspan’s deregulation initiative of the 1990s, supported and endorsed by President Clinton.

A cocky Texas banker, Robert Stanford, who flaunts his $2 billion wealth with conspicuous spending on mansions, private jets, and other big ticket items, has come under fire by the SEC.

The Feds allege Stanford swindled investors in his Certificate of Deposits (CDs) scheme.
Last week, federal regulators charged Stanford with fraud in connection with the sale of $8 billion in CDs issued by his Antigua-based Stanford Financial Group. They froze his assets, effectively stopping Stanford from any further business dealings

Stanford, who is the stereotypical Texas cowboy-hat-wearing blowhard, bragged that his CDs paid more than twice the going rate. He once said, "I’m untouchable," presumably because his company spent more than $5 million on political contributions and lobbyists.

The SEC charges that the CDs are nothing but another Ponzi scheme. Stanford is telling investors that they can’t redeem their CDs for at least two months. Such delays are a red-flag prelude to the collapse of a Ponzi fraud

With his macho bravado, Stanford established himself as royalty in Antigua. Islanders call him Sir Stanford since he was knighted by the former British colony in 2006. He holds dual citizenship in Antigua and the United States.

Along with the SEC, the FBI and IRS have joined the investigation into Stanford’s business dealings. Indeed, that’s major heat on this slippery Texan. Still, Stanford maintains his innocence and walks tall. He’s the type of character that has always aspired to be bigger than life. He says he was born to be rich and, from an early age, he was hustling for money and status. Stanford dabbled in philanthropy to spread his name as an icon of the banking world. Stanford and his father got rich buying up and reselling foreclosures that swept Houston in the early 1980s.

As the father and son company prospered, Stanford broke from his father and he began to buy, operate, and sell apartment complexes and residential projects. With the profits of his real estate business, Stanford opened his first bank, Guardian International Bank, the predecessor of Stanford International Bank in Montserrat, in the Caribbean.

Justifiably, the Feds want to know how Stanford’s relatively small real estate company morphed into an international bank. Close associates of Stanford believe his personality and con-man skills enabled him to move in much higher circles than his modest entitlement warranted. Childhood friends say that Stanford has boundless energy and confidence and was always making deals even as a teenager.

Like Madoff, whose audacity blasted him into the higher echelon of the banking world, Stanford inspired trust. His name was his bond. People figured he owned his own banks and financial company. His humanitarian activities got him knighted. In investors minds, how could a man of such impeccable credentials swindle investors?

Well, the Feds have only scratched the surface of the many scams operating under deregulation for the last two decades. Now the swindlers are being exposed, fear grips the investment world.

These days, investors can’t trust any financial company that doesn’t back up its investments with FDIC. Sure that means one’s money will make pitiful interest rates, but at least its protected–guaranteed. It’s beats waking up one morning and discovering your life savings has been wiped out by some scumbag like Madoff or Stanford. And worse, you can’t get your hands around their necks because a cadre of U.S. Marshalls protect them.