Montag, 14. Mai 2012

Investors Sue Auditor BDO for Stanford Ponzi Fraud

May 14, 2012
By DAVID LEE
Investors defrauded by Allen Stanford's $7 billion Ponzi scheme say in court that the fund's auditor knowingly participated in the fraud.

The Official Stanford Investors Committee filed the federal complaint against BDO USA, and related entities BDO International, BDO Global Coordination and Brussels Worldwide Services. The complaint abbreviates Stanford Group Co. as SGC.

"Despite the pervasive fraud that infected Stanford Financial Group's operations, BDO USA repeatedly issued unqualified audit opinions on its Stanford clients' annual financial statements," the complaint states. "BDO USA's audit opinions on SGC's financial statements were critical to Stanford Financial Group's success."

In March, Stanford was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, and one count of obstruction of an SEC proceeding. He was acquitted of one wire fraud charge.

"Allen Stanford and his co-conspirators used the promise of SIBL CDs to lure investor money into Stanford Financial Group and then stole billions of dollars in assets from Stanford Financial Group companies for their own personal benefit," the complaint states, abbreviating Stanford International Bank Ltd. certificates of deposit.

"Substantial sums of these stolen funds were used to: (i) support the lavish lifestyles of Allen Stanford and his Ponzi insiders; (ii) issue bogus, unsecured personal "loans" to Allen Stanford; (iii) capitalize other entities wholly owned by Allen Stanford; and (iv) fund investments in speculative, illiquid, and high-risk assets, including private equity holdings and massive investments in Antiguan real estate."

Investors say BDO USA provided critical services to Stanford Financial Group for over a decade, auditing the annual financial statements of Stanford Group Co., a Houston-based broker-dealer and investment adviser that recommended and sold SIBL CDs to investor.

BDO USA also allegedly audited the annual financial statements of Stanford Trust Company (Louisiana), which served as trustee and custodian to hold the SIBL CDs that SGC sold for its investors' IRA accounts. And it audited the annual financial statements of Stanford Group Holdings, a holding company for the broker-dealer arm of Stanford Financial Group, including SGC and STC, according to the complaint.

BDO allegedly played a significant role in weakening banking laws in Antigua, where SIBL was based. When Antigua came under increased scrutiny from foreign regulators, Stanford formed a task force to rewrite the country's banking laws, according to the complaint.

The task force allegedly succeeded both in weakening regulations, and in effectively eliminating SIBL's Antiguan competitors, making Stanford the country's de facto offshore banking regulator.

"The smashing success of the Stanford task force and its misleading regulatory 'reforms' were rooted in its exclusive nine-person membership," the complaint states. "Every firm represented on the Task Force provided crucial services to Stanford Financial Group, and every individual member of the Task Force was personally appointed by Stanford himself. ... BDO USA's partners and associates comprised nearly half of the Stanford Task Force's members, more than any other firm represented on the Task Force."

The key initiative of the task force was to amend Antigua's Money Laundering Act to ensure that "fraud" and "false accounting" were not included as violations, investors say.

BDO USA allegedly had some of the most important responsibilities in completing the initiative, including reviewing and advising on Antigua's banking laws, and making recommendations to Antigua's regulatory authorities, including procedures for supervising and examining international banks.

BDO USA's service on the task force completely undermined its independence from SFG and, and as a result, violated generally accepted auditing standards by issuing unqualified audit opinions on its Stanford clients' annual financial statements during the years that BDO USA served on the Stanford Task Force, the complaint says.

Investors also accuse BDO USA's audit engagement partner, Carlos Ancira, of concealing critical, material information from his own audit engagement team.

"Ancira knew that SGC was under increasing scrutiny from the SEC years before the U.S. Government seized Stanford Financial Group in February 2009," the complaint states. "Shockingly, however, Ancira reassured SGC in a February 28, 2007 email that '[d]ue to the sensitivity of the situation,' no other members of BDO USA's audit engagement team would be told about the SEC's investigation of SGC for possible securities fraud. Furthermore, Ancira's email permitted SGC's outside legal counsel to omit any discussion of the SEC investigation in its audit response letter."

For every year BDO USA audited SGC's annual financial statements, it failed to confirm that SGC remitted investor funds to purchase SIBL CDs and failed to properly modify its audit opinions, the complaint alleged. It also stated that BDO USA failed to properly consider and apply consolidation principles, failed in its role as a public watchdog and issued unqualified audit opinions in spite of knowing its Stanford clients "substantially" depended on SIBL CDs.

The investors seek actual and punitive damages for negligence, civil conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and conversion. They are represented by Guy Hohmann with Hohmann, Taube & Summers in Austin.
PLAINTIFFS' ORIGINAL CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT
Read the complete CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT here!


Read more: http://sivg.org/article/2012_Investors_Sue_Auditor_BDO.html


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Freitag, 4. Mai 2012

Stanford investors have until Sept. 1 to file claims

May 4, 2012
By US District Judge David C. Godbey
After holding a hearing on the motion, considering all objections, and reviewing the Receiver's cost estimate [1583], the Court overrules the objections and grants the motion in full, except that it alters the language of section twelve (12) of the proposed Notice of Bar Date and Procedures for Submitting Proofs of Claim form, Amend. Mot., Ex. 3, at 7 [1546-3], to include "relating to this claim" after "for all purposes," so that the clause reads: "If you submit a Proof of Claim Form in this case, you consent to the jurisdiction of the District Court for all purposes relating to this claim and agree to be bound by its decisions..."

Accordingly, the Court orders that:

1. The Amended Motion is granted as described herein.

2. Objections Overruled. All objections not withdrawn or resolved by this Order are overruled in all respects.

3. Retention of Claims Agent and Other Professionals. The Receiver is hereby authorized to retain Gilardi & Co. LLC as its claims agent ("Claims Agent"), and the engagement agreement between the Receiver and Gilardi & Co. LLC, Order, Ex. 1, is hereby approved. The Receiver is further authorized to retain FTI Consulting, Inc. ("FTI") to provide consultation and analysis concerning claims reconciliation and related matters, and the engagement agreement between the Receiver and FTI, Order, Ex. 2, is hereby approved.
Stanford Financial U.S. Receiver Announces Notice of Bar Date to Submit Claims Against Stanford Financial Receivership Entities
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas has entered an order establishing September 1, 2012, at 11:59 p.m.(prevailing Central Time) (the "Bar Date") as the last date for each person or entity (including individuals, partnerships, corporations, joint ventures estates, trusts and governmental units) who asserts a claim (collectively, "Claimants", as more specifically defined below) against any of the Receivership Entities listed in the box below to submit a Proof of Claim Form.

Receivership Entities
Stanford International Bank, Ltd.
Stanford Trust Company
Stanford Group Company
Stanford Financial Group Company
Stanford Capital Management, LLC
Stanford Coins & Bullion, Inc.

The list above contains only the more significant of the Receivership Entities. A complete list of the Receivership Entities is available at www.stanfordfinancialclaims.com

Read more: http://sivg.org/article/2012_Stanford_investors_file_claims.html


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