Free Republic

Obama we adore you. Your being is supreme. We know you stand for change, but what precisely does that mean? You have a massive fan base flaunting T-shirts of your face, And schools of intellectuals are focused on your race. “What progress” loudly preach your proud promoters with delight. “His policy is lacking, but at least he isn’t white.” And really this is perfect, for now we clearly see: Opponents of your politics are racist SOBs. But this can’t be the change we need, for it is no new news, The liberals have always pulled the race card when they...

It took a long time for anyone to point out an obvious phenomenon about the $60 billion Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, the largest in history. It was that Madoff victimized thousands upon thousands of his fellow American Jews. By the time that phenomenon was recognized, it was too late for Americans to properly digest the intellectual nutrients it offered. The story was over. But now it turns out that another Madoff-like Ponzi operation, this one the world’s second largest, also laid financial waste to Jews. This clearly is no one-off phenomenon. As a story, the Stanford Financial Group of banks...

Not the desks-and-chairs kind. Instead, Stanford University is selling stakes in funds run by the biggest names in private equity at deeply discounted prices. While no one will confirm the names aloud, they are of the caliber of Henry R. Kravis, Stephen A. Schwarzman and Leon D. Black. During the boom times, Stanford Management, joined other endowments in a rush to plow increasingly large percentages of their funds into private equity, real estate and other illiquid investments — committing some $12.6 billion of the university’s endowment. But then the market soured, and Stanford’s endowment lost $4.6 billion in value in...

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority didn't fully probe Bernard Madoff's firm and repeatedly failed to investigate tips about R. Allen Stanford's alleged $7 billion fraud, an internal report found.

The jailed Texas billionaire Sir Allen Stanford has been hospitalised after a jailhouse brawl with another inmate. Stanford was badly beaten but his injuries were not said to be life-threatening. The incident occurred at the privately run Joe Corley detention centre north of Houston, Texas. A US Marshalls spokesman said: "He got into an altercation with another inmate. He's being examined by medical staff and treated for his injuries." His lawyer Kent Schaffer added: "Mr Stanford is fine. Contrary to reports, he is not in intensive care at the hospital. "I understand his injuries are not serious enough to keep...

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University officials say more than 2,000 students have been sickened by swine flu during the first two weeks of classes on the Pullman campus. But Saturday's football game between Stanford and Washington State will go on as scheduled. School officials say there have been no deaths and no students have required hospitalization. Dr. Dennis Garcia says most students suffer three to five days of discomfort. The school is handing out free flu kits including a thermometer, painkillers, throat lozenges, sport drinks, hand sanitizer and tissues.

The industry self-regulatory organization that was supposed to police the brokers at the Stanford Financial Group acknowledges that a Stanford employee alleged in 2003 that the company was running a Ponzi scheme, but the organization did not follow up on the claim based of its own policy, which has since been changed. The disclosure comes in testimony from Daniel Sibears, Executive Vice President of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, FINRA, prepared for a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Monday. In 2003, Stanford advisor Leyla Wydler alleged in an arbitration case that the company was "engaged in a Ponzi scheme to...

Stanford University’s Teacher Education Program (STEP) has finally let dissenting student-blogger Michele Kerr graduate. When Stanford tried to revoke Kerr’s admission after she voiced disagreement with “progressive” views held by STEP administrators, Kerr turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help. Kerr sought FIRE’s aid a second time after Stanford School of Education administrators demanded the password to her private blog and threatened to expel her for her opinions and teaching philosophy. The shameful story of Kerr’s travails is featured online in The Washington Post today by education columnist Jay Mathews. “From before even her first...

WASHINGTON – Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, whose sprawling banking empire collapsed this year, has been indicted for what prosecutors say is a $7 billion scheme to defraud investors. Justice Department officials announced the charges against Stanford, who ran Stanford Financial Group, and six others at a news conference Friday. Also indicted were executives of the company and a former Antiguan bank regulator. Dick DeGuerin, Stanford's lawyer in Houston, said in a written statement that Stanford was "confident that a fair jury will find him not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing." --- Associated Press writers Marcy Gordon in Washington, Larry...

The bizarre fraud case of wealthy Texan R. Allen Stanford took a turn yesterday after federal prosecutors pointed a finger at a high-ranking Antiguan financial regulator, who they say accepted bribes from Stanford in exchange for covering up a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.That revelation came as Stanford, 59, and a cadre of cohorts were indicted in connection with the alleged fraud, which has extended from Stanford's Houston headquarters to the tropical island of Antigua, where Stanford was knighted and is referred to as "Sir Allen." In addition to Stanford, his former chief investment officer, Laura Pendergest-Holt, 35, was indicted for...

Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, head of the troubled Stanford Financial Group, was arrested by the FBI in Virginia on Thursday, his attorney said.(snip) You may remember Mr. Stanford's case, which first surfaced in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal. Now it could be that the bright light of Madoff hid Stanford's accused shenanigans, and that is why the MSM did not cover it as harshly as the former. Or, it could be that because that the Stanford story, based out of Houston, did not have the critical mass of New York socialites that is required in this day...

Stanford’s One-Party University by: Malcolm A. Kline, June 08, 2009 Developments on campuses from kindergarten through college help to show the prescience of author M. Stanton Evans’ law of inadequate paranoia: No matter how bad you think things are, when you look into them, you find that they are a lot worse. “In a startling investigation, The Stanford review discovered that the Stanford faculty’s donations favored Obama over McCain by the astounding rate of 43-to-1[He better watch his back],” Jason Dunkel, the business manager for the alternative newspapers on campus, wrote in a recent fundraising letter. “The numbers from the...

Stanford Shuns Condi Again by: Bethany Stotts, May 08, 2009 In the several days since this correspondent reported that over a hundred Stanford University community members had signed a petition against Condoleeza Rice, the number of signees exploded to nearly 800 signatures. As of this writing, 767 petition signers have expressed their displeasure at Rice's return to Stanford, calling for "investigation and, if the facts warrant, prosecution" of the former Secretary of State. Stanford alumni who participated in the antiwar April Third Movement of the 1960s nailed this petition to the University President's door as part of their 40th Annual...

Selective Censure at Stanford by: Bethany Stotts, May 05, 2009 Ambushed by a left-wing student at Stanford, the former Secretary of State gave two students a history lesson unlike any they are likely to receive at Palo Alto. The video, captured by student Reyna Garcia, captures an argument between students and Condoleeza Rice over the human rights and foreign policy implications of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Taken at the reception segment of the dorm event, Garcia said she was unable to follow Rice inside to hear her formal speech. “The most important thing [is] that you make a judgment...

If sharing a bedroom with a student of the opposite sex is not your idea of appropriate college housing for your son or daughter, beware. The college or university to which you have just sent a deposit may have other ideas. ... “The University of Chicago has sent a letter to parents announcing that they’ll allow men and women to room together next year — and they won’t necessarily be informing parents about their children’s room arrangements.” My friend Maria has a child at the University of Chicago. It never occurred to me that the parents of Chicago students were...

Watch our always classy, former SOS take on Stanford University progressive liberal know-it-all students, and put their sound byte educated selves in their place during an impromptu "interrogation" about torture, Gitmo, etal. This woman doesn't parse words, straddle fences, and she sure doesn't back down.... and still remains the lady thru and thru. My personal favorite? The part about why the Club Gitmo tribunals were delayed.... BTW... picked this up off James Delingpole's London Telegraph blog. What he said? If ever you needed further proof of the "person of color" America really needs in charge right now, I urge you...

In case you were wondering, take a trip to Opensecrets.org and search on Bernard Madoff as a contributor. My search says he gave $183,250 over all election cycles, with a cool $100,000 going to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign since 2005 and most of the rest going to individual Democrats. The usual suspects such as Chuck Schumer, Charlie Rangel, Chris Dodd and Hillary Clinton show up, as well as Ron Wyden, Ed Markey, Frank Lautenberg and other Democrats. Yes, a few Republicans show up, too. I also looked up that other rip-off artist, R. Allen Stanford. He gave $855,177 by my...

The Sir Allen Stanford Story: The Emperor Has No Clothes Revisited In a scheme going back over 20 years, it appears that Stanford's "Banks" were nothing more than a ponzi scam, bilking investors for billions -- atleast $8 billon and counting -- but it took a smart Venezuelan analyst named Alex Dalmady to cry out that the emperor had no clothes, setting off a chain of events that within two weeks would lead to the collapse and closure of affiliated banks in Caracas, Canada, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Antigua. By Russ Dallen Latin American Herald Tribune staff In the early...

FBI in search for Stanford ‘victims’ By Stacy-Marie Ishmael and Joanna Chung in New York Published: March 9 2009 23:14 | Last updated: March 9 2009 23:14 The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday it was seeking to identify potential “victims” who invested in a slew of companies associated with Sir Allen Stanford as part of an ongoing investigation. The agency is seeking information from anyone who invested in either Stanford Financial Group or its affiliated companies – Stanford Capital Management, the Stanford Group Company, the Stanford International Bank, the Stanford Trust Company, and the Bank of Antigua. “If...

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell offered words of inspiration with a twist of humor on Monday, earning waves of laughter and a standing ovation. Powell's talk at Memorial Auditorium drew alumni, students, faculty and staff, who filled every seat.... Powell said that during the recent presidential campaign he was impressed with then-candidate Obama's ability to bridge the gap between generations and to use modern communication to assemble hundreds of thousands of citizens. "I voted for Obama because he brought generational change into the political system and we needed that change," he said. Powell connected some of the leadership skills...

FBI agents have arrested the chief investment officer of troubled Stanford Financial Group, accusing Laura Pendergest-Holt of obstructing a Securities and Exchange Commission fraud investigation.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Federal agents entered the Houston office of Stanford Financial Group on Tuesday, according to a Reuters eyewitness on the scene. About 15 people, some wearing jackets identifying them as U.S. marshals, entered the lobby of Stanford's office in the Houston Galleria area, the eyewitness said. Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, which says it oversees more than $50 billion of assets, is being investigated by U.S. regulators, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Top Stanford official charged with obstruction Suzy Jagger in New York The woman whom US regulators had hoped would lead them to the heart of what they believed to be one of the world's biggest frauds, was arrested and charged with obstruction yesterday. Laura Pendergest-Holt, the former chief investment officer at Allen Stanford's frozen US financial empire, had agreed to assist investigators and had said she would fly from her home in Mississippi to Houston to help the receiver sift through Mr Stanford's assets. However, last night she was charged with obstruction. In earlier written affadavits, it was claimed that...

A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud. The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, according to a lawyer for Paradigm....

(Reuters) – A fund of hedge funds run by two members of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by firms controlled by Texas financier Allen Stanford, charged by regulators with an $8 billion fraud, the Wall Street Journal said. The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity, and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund, the paper said. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, the paper said,...

The FBI is probing possible money laundering linked to Mexico's infamous narco-trafficking Gulf Cartel in its investigation of Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford.... An FBI source close to the investigation would not give exact details but confirmed the agency was looking at links to international drug gangs as part of the huge investigation into Stanford's banking activities. Reports in the US have said Mexican authorities have detained one of Stanford's private planes as part of an investigation into possible links to the Gulf Cartel. It has been alleged cheques found inside the plane were linked to the cartel, which is...

For a town of just 10,000 people, it is remarkable that Mexia - motto "a great place, no matter how you pronounce it" - should throw up two larger-than-life characters: Anna Nicole Smith and Sir Allen Stanford. At first glance, Ms Smith and Sir Allen have little in common beyond their birthplace. The surgically enhanced former Playmate of the Year was the model, actress and sex symbol who died from a drug overdose in 2007, nine months before her 40th birthday. Sir Allen, who has also been under the plastic surgeon's knife, is the flamboyant businessman turned cricket entrepreneur who...

Stanford panic spreads across Latin America By Naomi Mapstone in Lima and Adam Thomson in Mexico City Published: February 19 2009 01:54 | Last updated: February 19 2009 01:54 Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico were the latest Latin American countries to experience the fall-out from the Stanford case on Wednesday. Well-heeled investors queued at the offices of Stanford Financial Group’s Ecuadorean affiliate in the capital of Quito, demanding to know the status of their deposits. Stock exchanges in Quito and Guayaquil, where a second Stanford unit is based, were expected to suspend the group’s local brokerage house by late...

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua — When Robert Allen Stanford arrived here in the early 1990s, few locals had ever heard of the Texas financier. Today, he dominates so many aspects of life on this sun-drenched Caribbean island that some have taken to calling it “Stanford Land.”

U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd said Thursday he will return contributions received from financier R. Allen Stanford who is accused by federal regulators of defrauding investors of $8 billion. "Whatever it is, all of it will be donated to charity," Dodd said ... "Unfortunately, I'm not clairvoyant," said Dodd, a Democrat facing re-election next year. "In some cases, I've received money and support from people who turn out to be people you wouldn't want to be associated with." Dodd was unsure whether he had ever met Stanford or exactly how much money he had received from the financier, either directly...

Accused of cheating investors out of $8 billion, Texas financier R. Allen Stanford could've been anywhere when he dropped out of sight earlier this week. He has extensive business ties in Latin America and the West Indies, and dual citizenship in the United States and the Virgin Islands. He was even knighted in Antigua and Barbuda, where he resides and is better known as Sir Allen. So where does a guy with those kinds of connections go to get away from it all? Apparently, Stafford County. That's where FBI agents from Richmond caught up with him yesterday after officials with...

More than 100 members of Congress—past and present—as well as congressional campaign committees and the national parties benefited from political donations from the political action committee or employees of Stanford Financial Group since 2000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the firm’s head, R. Allen Stanford, on Tuesday with orchestrating a $8 billion fraud. Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal reported on Stanford’s status as an “international cricket sponsor, Washington political donor and private banker to Latin America’s wealthy.” President Barack Obama was the third-ranking recipient among lawmakers, with $31,750 collected from company employees during...

The billionaire banker accused of scamming $8 billion, R. Allen Stanford, was located by FBI officials today and served with civil papers by the SEC, putting an end to a nationwide search. Stanford later turned in his passport to federal prosecutors, saying "he would not flee," according to one of Stanford's lobbyists, Ben Barnes.

Authorities were trying to track down Texas billionaire financier Allen Stanford on Thursday, as fraud charges against the cricket impresario prompted panicked investors to withdraw cash from his banks..... Two days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Stanford, 58, of perpetrating "a fraud of shocking magnitude," officials were still in the dark about his whereabouts - as were close members of his family....

WASHINGTON - A company run by R. Allen Stanford gave U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., nearly $46,000 in campaign contributions through its political-action committee and employees -- the highest total of any member of Congress, according to a new watchdog report.... Stanford and his company Stanford Financial Group invested heavily in politics, spending about $2.4 million in campaign contributions to lawmakers and political committees since 1989, according the Washington-based watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.....

President Barack Obama's campaign fund moved Wednesday to distance him from the burgeoning scandal involving Texas businessman R. Allen Stanford, donating the value of Stanford's $4,600 campaign contribution to a Chicago charity.

Cricket promoter Allen Stanford linked to drugs investigation The FBI is investigating Sir Allen Stanford over possible links to a Mexican drugs cartel, according to reports. By Paul Kelso, Chief Sports Reporter, Houston Last Updated: 3:03PM GMT 19 Feb 2009 In a report screened on Wednesday night on ABC News in the US, it was claimed that Sir Allen was suspected of laundering money for the notorious Gulf cartel, and that one of his private jets was detained as part of the investigation last year. The reports come 36 hours after the Security and Exchanges Commission charged the Texan financier...

US authorities 'had been investigating Allen Stanford for 15 years' David Byers, Suzy Jagger in New York, and James Bone in Antigua American authorities have been suspicious of Allen Stanford's financial dealings for 15 years but only accelerated their investigation after the Bernard Madoff fraud was exposed, it was claimed today. As investigators continued to hunt Mr Stanford and the $50 billion (£35 billion) of assets connected to him, a financial expert said that the Texan had been on "everybody’s radar" for more than a decade. The claim, made by the journalist and author Jeffrey Robinson, came as a link...

The $8 billion scam that Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford is accused of hatching could ensnare high-profile athletes who were represented by Teddy Forstmann's management firm IMG. The Post has learned that IMG quietly agreed to steer clients looking for investment advice to Stanford Financial Group, potentially exposing them to millions of dollars in losses resulting from the financial firm's alleged fraud. According to three sources with knowledge of the situation, IMG and Stanford have a quid-pro-quo agreement under which Stanford Financial pays IMG a low- to mid-seven-figure consulting fee in exchange for IMG advising its clients - which include...

The SEC's fraud charges may be the least of accused financial scammer R. Allen Stanford's worries. Federal authorities tell ABC News that FBI and others have been investigating whether Stanford was involved in laundering drug money for Mexico's notorious Gulf Cartel. Authorities tell ABC News that as part of the investigation, which has been ongoing since last year, Mexican authorities detained one of Stanford's private planes. According to officials, checks found inside the plane were believed to be connected to the Gulf cartel, reputed to be Mexico's most violent gang. Authorities say Stanford could potentially face criminal charges of money...

Texas financier R. Allen Stanford is accused of cheating 50,000 customers out of $8 billion dollars but despite raids Tuesday of his financial empire in Houston, Memphis, and Tupelo, Miss., federal authorities say they do not know the current whereabouts of the CEO. The Securities Exchange Commission alleges Stanford ran a fraud promising investors impossible returns, much like Bernard Madoff's $50 billion alleged Ponzi scheme. Investigators Tuesday shut down and froze the assets of three of the companies Stanford controls and they say the case could grow to be as big as the Madoff scandal. Like Madoff's clients, Stanford's investors...

Firm PR Video Shows Owner Hugging Speaker, Being Thanked by Former President for $$ Accused con man R. Allen Stanford used corporate money to become a big man at last year's Democratic convention in Denver. A video posted on the firm's web-site shows Stanford, now sought by U.S. Marshals, being hugged by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and praised by former President Bill Clinton for helping to finance a convention-related forum and party put on by the National Democratic Institute. "I would like to thank the Stanford Financial Group for helping to underwrite this," Clinton said to the...

Hundreds of people lined up to withdraw money from banks in Antigua and Caracas affiliated with Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, a day after the tycoon was charged with an $8 billion fraud. The whereabouts of the brash, 58-year-old financier were unknown. CNBC television said he tried to hire a private jet to fly from Houston, the site of his U.S. headquarters, to Antigua, but the jet lessor refused to accept his credit card. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Stanford of operating a fraud centered on the sale of certificates of deposit from his Antiguan affiliate, Stanford International...

One of Washington's time honored rituals is that when a donor turns out to be a sleaze ball, or even an alleged sleaze ball, beneficiaries distance themselves -typically by donating the amount received by their campaign committees to charity. The disgorging has begun when it comes to R. Allen Stanford, the Houston-based banker who - according to the SEC - ran a fraudulent $8 billion investment scheme out of his office on the Caribbean island Antigua. Sen. John McCain of Arizona was the first major recipient to step forward. An aide said this morning that he will donate his receipts...

The head of Stanford Financial Group charged with orchestrating an $8 billion fraud tried Tuesday to get a one-way flight out of the country, a source told CNBC. R. Allen Stanford tried to arrange the direct flight to Antigua, where his offshore banking operations are based. He contacted a private jet owner at 3 pm and attempted to pay for the flight with a credit card, but was refused because the company would only accept a wire transfer, a source in the private jet industry said. Stanford had asked to leave by 6 pm.

Texas businessman R. Allen Stanford, whose multibillion-dollar investment empire was ordered seized Monday by a federal judge, has long enjoyed big influence in Washington thanks to a steady supply of campaign contributions, Caribbean trips for lawmakers and fees to lobbying firms. Mr. Stanford and his affiliated companies have spent more than $5 million on lobbying fees since 2000, federal records show. The businessman and his top executives have also contributed at least $2 million to candidates, including key lawmakers, and additional thousands of dollars on jets and resorts. The businessman's primary goal for the last three to four years...

FEDS SAY HOUSTON BANKER OPERATED $8B SCAM Texan Sir R. Allen Stanford ran a "massive, ongoing fraud," scamming $8 billion by luring investors with unrealistically high returns on offshore bank CDs and mutual funds......and lied about his Madoff investments....... The SEC appointed a receiver to take control of Stanford Financial Group.....58-year-old Stanford's holds citizenship in the US and Antigua, the first American to be knighted by the West Indies island.... his Antigua bank----Stanford International Bank Ltd....touted "a unique investment strategy" purporting to produce double-digit returns ..........

Texan billionaire and cricket promoter Sir Allen Stanford has been charged over a $8bn (£5.6bn) investment fraud, US financial regulators say. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the financier had orchestrated "a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme". The SEC said the fraud was "based on false promises and fabricated historical return data". English cricket bosses have pulled out of sponsorship talks with Sir Allen. The charges against Sir Allen, three of his companies and two executives of those companies followed a raid by US marshalls on the Houston, Texas, offices of Stanford Financial Group. A US judge has frozen the...

The Texas financier accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday of “massive ongoing fraud” was a generous political donor who gave more heavily to Democrats. Since 2000, R. Allen Stanford, the chief of the Stanford Financial Group in Houston, his wife and company gave $2.2 million in political contributions – $1.7 million to Democratic candidates and committees – according to Federal Election Commission records. The most recent donation on record was $300,000 from Stanford Financial Group to the Democratic Governors Association, a so-called 527 group not subject to campaign contribution limits. Other big beneficiaries included the Democrats’ congressional campaign...

SEC charges Stanford companies with massive fraud Published: Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009 WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators are charging R. Allen Stanford and three of his companies with a "massive" fraud that centered around high-interest-rate CDs. The Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges that Stanford International Bank sold about $8 billion of so-called certificates of deposit to investors by promising "improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates."