Billionaire Allen Stanford charged with fraud by SEC in USA. Antigua-based billionaire Allen Stanford has been charged with fraud by US authorities according to the Reuters agency. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that it was "alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude".
Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's division of enforcement, said: "As we allege in our complaint, Stanford and the close circle of family and friends with whom he runs his businesses perpetrated a massive fraud based on false promises and fabricated historical return data to prey on investors. We are moving quickly and decisively in this enforcement action to stop this fraudulent conduct and preserve assets for investors."
Rose Romero, regional director of the SEC's Forth Worth regional office, added: "We are alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world."
A US district judge granted the SEC's request to impose a temporary restraining order on the Stanford operations and to freeze the defendants' assets, and appoint a receiver to marshal those assets.
Federal agents were also reported to have entered the Houston office of Stanford Financial Group, according to a Reuters eyewitness.
In Antigua, the country's prime minister, Baldwin Spencer, said the case had "profound, serious implications" for Antigua and Barbuda and its fallout threatens "catastrophic and immediate consequences". The government, he said, was putting in place a contingency plan and there was no need to panic.
Tags: Allen, BILLIONAIRE, charged, fraud, sec, stanford, USA