Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009

Another Madoff - when will the Ponzie schemes end?

New York Times: Sir Allen Stanford accused of "massive, ongoing fraud" by SEC

Allen Stanford, the chap behind 20/20 cricket and one of the richest people in the world, has been accused of running a giant Ponzi scheme involving anywhere from $8-50billion of assets. As with Madoff, his funds offered suspiciously high and consistent rates of return even while the market tanked last year. That is, until investors started demanding their funds back - now it all unravels and the authorities step in too late as usual, to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Posted by little professor @ 05:31 PM (956 views) Add Comment

11 Comments

1. alan said...

"Stanford said in a Feb. 12 e-mail to his employees that he’d “fight with every breath to continue to uphold our good name” in the face of the investigations". Bloomberg.

We are alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world,” Rose Romero, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth office, said today (17th) in a statement.

LP....I fear the horse has bolted ...with the cash!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 05:39PM Report Comment
 

2. Mrfooty said...

I say, that's just not cricket is it...

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 05:49PM Report Comment
 

3. richc said...

It's interesting that the SEC was able to come to (the obvious) conclusion that this was most likely a fraud within a couple of days of starting an investigation. What have they been waiting for?

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 05:50PM Report Comment
 

4. little professor said...

Most funny aspect of this is that the Stanford bank lost £400m to Madoff, despite saying as recently as last week that it had "absolutely no exposure" to any Madoff schemes. No honour amongst thieves.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 06:03PM Report Comment
 

5. Eternal Sceptic said...

I trust the regulaters in charge of the nuclear industry are subjected to a somewhat more rigerous training than those in the financial industry.I would not trust the latter to audit the books of the donkey ride on the beach.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 06:14PM Report Comment
 

6. 51ck-6-51x said...

All those fund of funds searching for the elusive alpha just ended up finding ponzi schemes which have the correct characteristic - consistent returns and low volatility with a low market correlation. Fools.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 06:44PM Report Comment
 

7. jack c said...

A repeat of the split cap debacle but on a massive scale perhaps?

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 07:10PM Report Comment
 

8. Crunchy said...

The little fish.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 11:36PM Report Comment
 

9. jackas said...

The tide has gone out and we're starting to see who's been swimming with their balls hanging out.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 12:54AM Report Comment
 

10. charlie brooker said...

The signs were there to be read.

As you'd expect from a man of power, when they held that tournament he tried bowling a few maidens over (the WAGs)

Now his investors are stumped as to where the money is it looks like he's on a sticky wicket.

Looks like he deserves a kick in the googlies.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 04:17AM Report Comment
 

11. Jayk said...

According to the SEC lawyer I saw interviewed, what is alleged in this particular case is NOT a Ponzi scheme.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 12:29PM Report Comment
 

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