Stanford Investors Committee Reacts to Victim's Claims

Caribbean 360

Stanford Investors Committee reacts to victims' claims
It denies overseeing what the victims claims are excessive fees being charged by the receiver overseeing the gathering of assets to repay investors.

TEXAS, United States, Monday July 11, 2011 – The man who leads the committee set up last August to protect the interests of investors who lost money in Allen Stanford's alleged fraud has responded to some of the criticism leveled at the body in a motion filed in court last week.

In the court document filed by Kachroo Legal Services (KLS), the investors allege that court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey had used up the majority of the money recovered on expenses.

It also said the Official Stanford Investors Committee, which was set up after a judge granted a request by the victims to give them a say in the recovery of assets, was among those not "acting as a check on the excessive fees and expenses compared to the minimal recovery, challenging the contingency fee arrangement, the operation of the receivership, and otherwise voicing concern over the ineffectiveness of this receivership”.

But in a statement made after the filing of the motion, Head of the Committee John Little - the Dallas attorney who also serves as a liaison between the court, the receiver and the creditors - said that "while the Committee does work in conjunction with the receiver's counsel and other professionals, it is not authorized to review the receiver's fees as KLS mistakenly alleges".

"The Official Stanford Investors Committee is absolutely committed to recovering the highest rate of return possible for Stanford's victims regardless of citizenship or nationality," added the court-appointed examiner.

As for the motion's other allegations and request that four Stanford investors represented by KLS be permitted to intervene and be appointed to serve on the Committee, Little has decided not to address that in the media.

He said the Committee would discuss the motion and respond appropriately via the court.

Little noted, though, that the seven members of the Committee were specifically chosen to represent the cross-section of the 20,000 victims of the US$7 billion alleged Ponzi scheme and that the Committee's members have been actively engaged in a broad range of activities on behalf of the victims, including substantial litigation against third parties and working with the U.S. government authorities overseeing the civil and criminal proceedings.

Along with Janvey and Little, the Committee comprises Ed Snyder, Ed Valdespino and Jaime Pinto Tabini, attorneys for Stanford investors in Mexico, Latin America and Peru respectively; Dr. John Wade, a customer of Stanford Trust Company; and Angela Shaw, a Stanford International Bank CD investor and director and founder of the Stanford Victims Coalition.