Posts Tagged ‘Allen Stanford’
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 7th, 2011 7:13 AM |

Some random thoughts and questions in the midst of trying to determine what is really going on in the markets, the economy, and the world:
1. Just how healthy are our major money center banks? How many toxic mortgage related assets remain on their books? Where are those assets marked? With the housing market continuing to erode, and it is, how can those asset valuations not be eroding as well?
2. Will the American public ever truly learn what happened inside Bernard Madoff’s operations? (more…)
Tags: Allen Stanford, Ben Bernanke credibility, BLS, BMIS, Federal Reserve credibility, FINRA, Finra investment portfolio, how healthy are our major banks, how many toxic assets do banks still hold, lawsuits addressing mortgage fraud, Madoff, Madoff Ponzi scam, Mary Schapiro and Bernie madoff, SEC budget, SEC funding, Stanford and DOJ, Stanford Financial, Toxic Assets, U-3 rate, what are toxic assets, where are toxic assets marked
Posted in General | 7 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on September 18th, 2010 12:14 PM |
LD’s edit: Thank you to a Sense on Cents reader, Transparency, for informing us that Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Bill To Repeal SEC FOIA Exemptions.
Thanks to a loyal reader of Sense on Cents for sharing this press release put forth earlier this week. Not that the Republican Party does not have a LOT to answer for in terms of the final Financial Regulatory Reform, but at least on this front, I commend Darrell Issa (R-CA) for introducing this legislation.
Issa Introduces the SEC Freedom of Information Restoration Act
President Obama at Signing of Financial Reform Bill: “It demands accountability and responsibility from everyone…It demands accountability and responsibility from everyone…And we all win when folks are rewarded based on how well they perform, not how well they evade accountability.” (more…)
Tags: Aaron Schock, Allen Stanford, Angela Canterbury, Barack Obama, Bernie Madoff, Bill Shuster, blaine leutkemeyer, Brian Bilbray, Dan Burton, Darrell Issa, Dodd Frank Wall Street reform and Consumer Protection Act, finreg, FOIA, Freedom of Information Restoration Act, Gary Aguirre, Issa Introduces the SEC Freedom of Information Restoration Act, jason Chaffetz, Jeff Fortenberry, jim jordan republican of ohio, John Duncan, John Mica, oversight and government reform committee, Patrick McHenry, rule 9291, sec failures in madoff and stanford scams, section 9291, Spencer Bachus, Wall Street-Washington incest
Posted in General | 4 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on August 30th, 2010 11:05 AM |
Is this game of life a total mystery? In many respects, life is a mystery. While there are many aspects of life we may never fully understand, there are those elements for which we can gain greater understanding through research, study, transparency and disclosure.
Along these same lines, to what degree is the world of financial frauds a mystery? How much of what transpired to lead us into our current economic crisis will we never truly learn? While our financial regulators and legal representatives may work toward providing transparency and disclosure, will the American public ever learn the full extent of the two largest financial frauds of the last few years–those being the Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford travesties.
I ask this critically important question in light of the Freedom of Information Act exemption provided to the SEC in the recently enacted Financial Regulatory Reform package. Will that exemption inhibit transparency and disclosure? Should the American public blindly accept and trust the SEC at each and every turn? How might we ever know? (more…)
Tags: Allen Stanford, bernard madoff, christopher bebel, drug traffickiing, financial fraud, financial frauds, financial regulatory reform, finreg, is life a mystery, james connolly, life is a mystery, lloyd's of london, money laundering, SEC foia exemption, sir allen stanford, stanford committed no crime ex-prosecutor testifies at trial on insurance, Stanford Financial, transparency and disclosure, Whitey Bulger
Posted in General | 6 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on April 20th, 2010 4:19 PM |
Why did the SEC charge Goldman Sachs with fraud last Friday and not another day? Little doubt the SEC was trying to deflect attention from the scathing review of the SEC in its Investigation of Stanford Financial debacle. How bad is it? Well, let’s review a letter embedded in the SEC OIG’s review of the Stanford Alleged Ponzi Scheme,
Below please find a referral from NASD concerning Stanford Financial Group
Id. at 1. The letter stated: (more…)
Tags: Allen Stanford, FBI Top Ten Most Wanted List, Irish mob in Boston, Italian mafia in Boston, Latin American drug trade Allen Stanford, NASD letter to SEC regarding Stanford, SEC investigation of Stanford Financial April 2010, SEC OIG review of Stanford, Stanford CDs, Stanford Financial, Stanford International Bank, Stanford ponzi scheme, Whitey Bulger and Allen Stanford, Winter Hill Gang
Posted in General, Stanford | 7 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on February 4th, 2010 11:40 AM |
Are the wagons circling around Mary Schapiro and her former FINRA colleagues?
Regular readers of Sense on Cents are familiar with the issues and concerns I have raised repeatedly with Wall Street’s self-regulator, FINRA. I continue to believe the issues embedded within this self-regulatory organization lie near the heart of what I deem the Wall Street-Washington nexus.
Perhaps America will learn more about these issues soon. Why? Next week, FINRA’s Board of Directors will address alleged wrongdoings by Ms. Schapiro et al. What are the issues? (more…)
Tags: Allen Stanford, Amerivet Securities, ARS, Attorney Richard Greenfield, Bear Stearns, Bernie Madoff, David Kotz, Elton Johnson, FINRA, FINRA auction-rate securities scandal, FINRA Board of Directors, FINRA books and records, Harry Markopolos, investigation of Mary Schapiro, investment losses at FINRA, Lehman Bros, losses at FINRA, Mary Schapiro, Mary Schapiro's compensation, Mary Schapiro's tenure at FINRA, Merrill LYnch, need for transparency, Richard Greenfield, subprime, transparency, wagons circling Mary Schapiro, Wall Street Washington show, Wall Street-Washington incest
Posted in General | 8 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on January 4th, 2010 9:47 AM |
For those who missed last evening’s No Quarter Radio’s Sense on Cents with Larry Doyle Hall of Fame and Shame Induction, I am compelled to provide a recap and listing of all those honored or dishonored — depending on one’s perspective. What was the measuring stick to make these assessments? Very simply, the pursuit and promotion of truth, transparency and integrity as we navigate the economic landscape.
Some names you will immediately recognize, others you may not. Additional information about these individuals can be found via the search window (located above the right sidebar) at Sense on Cents. The names appear in no specific order of priority or importance. With no further adieu . . .
Sense on Cents 2009 Hall of Shame Inductees
1. Bernie Madoff
2. Nicholas Cosmo: ran financial scam at Agape World
3. Tim Geithner: tax cheat amongst other things
4. Larry Summers: arrogant, condescending, and sleep deprived
5. Auction-Rate Securities dealers and managers, especially Oppenheimer Holdings, E-Trade, Schwab, Pimco, Van-Kampen, Blackrock
6. The Wall Street Journal
7. George Soros
8. Chris Dodd (D-CT): reasons too numerous to mention
9. The Board of FINRA
10. Franklin Raines and Leland Brendsel: former CEOs of Fannie and Freddie
11. Wall Street management, especially Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs
12. Frank Dipascali: a special place in hell for Madoff’s CFO
13. Rahm Emanuel
14. Jimmy Cayne: CEO of Bear Stearns
15. Dick Fuld: CEO of Lehman Bros.
16. Congress collectively
17. Barney Frank (D-MA): reasons too numerous to mention, but start with “I want to roll the dice…”
18. Bank Stress Tests: a total sham
19. Allen Stanford
20. Steven Rattner: car czar
21. Bruce Malkenhorst: receiving a 500k pension from Vernon, CA
22. Barack Obama: just another politician (more…)
Tags: Acorn, Allen Stanford, Andrew Madoff, Angelo Haligiannis Ponzi scheme, Arianna Huffington, auction rate securites dealers, Bank Stress Tests, Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Ben Nelson, Bernie Madoff, Board of FINRA, Bob Rodriguez of FPA, Bruce Malkenhorst, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Carmen Reinhart, cash for clunkers, Charles Bowsher, Charlie Doyle, Chris Cox, Chris Dodd, Chuck Schumer, Clifford S. Asness, Cohmad Securities, Colonel Elton Johnson Jr., Congress, Daniel Hannan, Dennis Kucinich, Dick Fuld, Edward Liddy, Elizabeth Warren, Erin Arvedlund, financial media, financial regulatory reform, Frank DiPascali, Franklin Raines and Leland Brendsel, George Soros, Goldman Sachs, Harvey Pitt, Helen Davis Chaitman, Helmut Kiener, Howard Kastel, incest between Wall Street and Washington, Jeff Gundlach, Jeffrey Picower, Jimmy Cayne, Joe Saluzzi, Joe the Plumber, John Edwards Mark Sanford Rod Blagoevich, John Mauldin, john wooden, Jonathan Cuneo, Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg, Judge Jed Rakoff, Judge Lawrence McKenna, Kenneth Rogoff, Larry Johnson, Larry Summers, Laurie Goodman of Amherst Securities, Lew Rockwell, Lloyd Blankfein CEO of Goldman Sachs, Madoff family, Mark Madoff, Marta Mossburg, Martin Feldstein, Mary Landrieu, Mary Schapiro, media in America, Mike Duggan of Domus, Nicholas Cosmo of Agape World, Oppenheimer Holdings E-Trade Schwab Pimco Van-Kampen Blackrock, Paul Keating, Paul Volcker, Pete Peterson Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, Peter King, Peter Madoff, Peter Weinberg, Phil Trupp, PPIP, Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon Group, Rham Emanuel, Richard Greenfield, Richard Ketchum, Robert Benmosche, Robert Jaffe, Robert reich, Robert Rubin, Ronnie Sue Ambrosino, Ruth Madoff, Sean D'Arcy, SEC, Sense on Cents 2009 Hall of Fame Hall of, Sense on Cents 2009 Hall of Shame, Shana Madoff, Shelia Bair, Sin-Ming Shaw, SIPC, Sonny and Marcia Cohn, Steven Rattner, Susan Antilla of Bloomberg, Taylor Bean Whitaker, Tea parties, Thaddeus McCotter, The Wall Street Journal, Themis Trading, Thomas Hoenig, Tiger Woods, Tim Geithner tax cheat, Tom Lauria, truth transparency and integrity, Wall street management, Walter Noel, William K. Black
Posted in General, Sense on Cents | 31 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on May 11th, 2009 2:58 PM |

Allen Stanford and Whitey Bulger
Are Allen Stanford and Whitey Bulger two peas in a pod? For those unfamiliar with Whitey, he is Boston’s greatest gangster, a government informant who simultaneously continued to run his gangland activities, one of the FBI’s Most Wanted, and still on the lam. The Martin Scorsese film, The Departed, was largely based on Whitey and his boys. If Whitey dealt in drugs and murder, is Stanford Financial, operated by Allen Stanford, a financial version of a government cover totally run amuck?
We all know the SEC totally dropped the ball in the oversight of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. On the heels of that and to alleviate massive pressure on the commission, the SEC quickly moved on Allen Stanford.
MAJOR hat tip to MC of Investor Rebellion in sharing with me a story broken by the BBC, Stanford Drug Informer Role Claim:
Evidence has emerged that the Texan who bankrolled English cricket may have been a US government informer.
Sir Allen Stanford, who is accused of bank fraud, is the subject of an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama.
Sources told Panorama that if he was a paid anti-drug agency informer, that could explain why a 2006 probe into his financial dealings was quietly dropped.
Sir Allen vigorously denies allegations of financial wrongdoing, despite a massive shortfall in his bank’s assets.
But the British receiver of his failed Stanford International Bank – based in Antigua – told Panorama that the books clearly show the deficit.
If in fact this development is accurate, has the U.S. government, via the DEA, facilitated a Ponzi scheme? I am not so naive as to think that there aren’t massive undercover operations ongoing regularly to infiltrate and expose illicit activities. However, if in fact that were the case, how did the DEA lose control of Stanford’s investment activities? Is this situation an indication that the Obama administration will not partake of these types of undercover operations? Is there a massive in-house brawl currently ongoing between the DEA and the SEC?
The BBC reports:
Secret documents seen by Panorama show both governments knew in 1990 that the Texan was a former bankrupt and his first bank was suspected of involvement with Latin American money-launderers.
In 1999, both the British and the Americans were aware of the facts surrounding a cheque for $3.1m (£2.05m) that Sir Allen paid to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
It was drug money originally paid in to Stanford International Bank by agents acting for a feared Mexican drug lord known as the ‘Lord of the Heavens’.
The cheque was proof that Stanford International Bank had been used to launder Mexican drug money – whether or not Sir Allen knew it at the time.
On 17 February of this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Sir Allen of running a multi-billion dollar Ponzi fraud – when cash from new depositors is used to pay dividends to old depositors – civil charges he has denied.
Two and a half months after the SEC filing, the Texan has not yet faced criminal charges.
He was initially investigated by the SEC for running a possible Ponzi fraud in the summer of 2006, but by the winter of that year the inquiry was stopped.
Is this another version of the Whitey Bulger story in which the criminal turned informant continues to operate his own illicit activities? Whitey is now on the lam and his FBI protection, John J. Connolly, is cooling his heels in a federal penitentiary.
The intrigue of this situation is surreal, but the natural and instinctive question has to be: if Uncle Sam (DEA) provided cover for Allen Stanford in the pursuit of illicit drug related activities, did Uncle Sam also provide cover for Bernie Madoff as well?
LD
Tags: Allen Stanford, Allen Stanford and Whitey Bulger, DEA and SEC, FBI's Most Wanted, John Connolly, SEC investigation of Allen Stanford, Stanford Bulger Madoff, Stanford and drug activity, Stanford and money laundering, Stanford drug cover, Stanford Financial, Stanford International Bank, Stanford providing cover for drugs, The Departed, Whitey Bulger
Posted in General | 2 Comments »
Posted by Larry Doyle on March 9th, 2009 5:40 PM |
On the heels of the Bernie Madoff fiasco, there was massive pressure on the gross incompetence displayed by the SEC. Not unlike a police department that is under fire, the SEC needed a high profile case to gain a measure of vindication. Enter Allen Stanford and Stanford Financial.
I am not here to defend Allen Stanford nor any of the activities that transpired in his offshore bank located in Antigua. However, the SEC also froze the assets of all clients housed in Stanford Financial’s brokerage operation based in Houston. Unlike Bernie Madoff, who did not employ a custodian, the bulk of Stanford Financial’s assets were housed at Pershing Financial, one of the largest custodians in the business. While the concerns revolving around Stanford are in the Caribbean, the SEC’s act of freezing ALL customer accounts has been the death of this brokerage entity. Hundreds of legitimate jobs have been eliminated. Thousands of customers have faced unnecessary and undue financial hardships since February 17th as a result. (more…)
Tags: Allen Stanford, Antigua, Bernie Madoff, custodian, FINRA, Harry Markopolos, Ms. Schapiro, Pershing financial, SEC, Stanford Financial
Posted in American Consumers, Business, Commerce, Current Affairs, FINRA, Harry Markopolos, Mary Schapiro, Reputation, Risk, Unemployment, Wall Street | 1 Comment »