Wednesday, 07 March 2012 02:30 Caribarena news Antigua News - Latest
Antigua St John's - Kate Freeman, spokesperson for the Stanford
International Victims Group, said Tuesday's guilty verdict against R Allen
Stanford in a US$7 billion Ponzi scheme is a "good result for the victims,"
and the "first positive thing" in the last three years.
She has now called for the American government to face up to its part in the situation and find ways to help the victims.
Freeman said the 21,000 investors were pleased that a jury considered all
the facts and agreed that the victims were "misled and lied to by Allen
Stanford".
She noted that the American government was aware of the fraud for years, but did nothing to stop it.
"Had they acted sooner, then it would have saved a lot of people a lot of
money," Freeman said. "It would have saved a lot of people from losing their life savings. I'm glad that the jury agreed with the 21,000 victims."
She noted that there was some confusion about how long Stanford could serve
behind bars, with speculation ranging from 20 years overall to 20 years for
each count.
Whatever the situation, Freeman said, "Let's hope he is locked up for the
rest of his life. He deserves it. He sentenced thousands of innocent victims to a life of hardship and poverty.
Most of the people that he stole from were retired people, and they have no
chance of ever recovering the money that they have lost. And they will never recover from what happened to them."
The spokeswoman noted that the next step is for Antigua to "sort out" the
extradition of Leroy King, since "he needs to face his own trial" along with James Davis, Laura Pendergest-Holt, and others.
"They all need to go and face their own trial. And hopefully they'll all be
put away," Freeman said.
In a statement, the Victims Group said Stanford showed no compassion or
consideration for them, and deserves no compassion or mercy from the court
when he is sentenced.
Meanwhile, local attorney Hugh Marshall Jr has said that it is a
"wait-and-see" situation at this point, since sentencing and a forfeiture
proceeding must take place to determine what would be forfeited, aside from
Stanford's bank accounts. This would provide a better perspective on what
will be available for the victims.
Marshall maintained that the first order of business in handling any money
recovered from Stanford's assets would be channeled into operations and the
payment of severance to thousands of employees.
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