MORE QUESTIONABLE ADVICE - FROM COVISAL TO LATIN AMERICAN INVESTORS

The self-proclaimed ‘Leader’ of COVISAL, Jaime R. Escalona, continues to issue very questionable advice to Latin American Stanford investors.

Not only has he been requesting further ‘donations,’ now a questionnaire to register with Covisal has been issued to Latin American investors. This questionnaire requests extensive private and confidential information from Stanford victims, including; the amount of their investment; the objective of their investment, whether it was a retirement fund, family life savings, education fund, or to guarantee business loans, etc; bank details; credit card details; account statements; and even certain PIN numbers are requested.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions whether all this information is absolutely necessary to join a victim’s support group, and consider carefully what risks investors may face from the trust placed in Covisal if this information is misused, or otherwise falls into the wrong hands.

Furthermore, Covisal continues to advise investors to fill-out their own FTCA claim forms, without acknowledging the risks of such claims being incomplete; being submitted too late; or being otherwise ineligible. Please refer to some of the earlier posts for more detail of the risks involved in ‘self-filing.’ The amount of case-law and precedents that need to be understood is immense, and easy to confuse; you can easily imagine the potential for filing an incomplete or ineligible claim if your first language is not English.

We understand the ‘Leader’ of Covisal has even advised his followers that there is no urgency, to submit FTCA claims, as this is will be a class-action that all investors can join-in later. Anyone spouting such blatant misinformation should not be trusted further.

Should there be litigation, which will most likely become a class-action, ONLY those investors who have registered valid claims will be included. This is an action against the US Government under the FTCA, where the rules for eligibility are very different to other class-actions, and if the reason you give for the negligence of the SEC is significantly different to the rest of the class, your claim may not even be admissible into the class action. In which case you may have to go to court separately and litigate your claim on your own, at your own expense. Furthermore if you do not already have a contract with an attorney, such as the one we have negotiated with Kachroo Legal services for a 15% contingency, you may have to pay whatever the judge awards to the lead attorney, which could be as high as 25% contingency fees. In the past some attorneys have demanded as high as 32% contingency fees from Stanford investors who chose not to pay a retainer. Please be reminded our attorney has already offered to accept clients who are experiencing extreme hardship and can not afford to pay a retainer.

Finally, we understand the ‘Leader’ of Covisal continues to claim our attorney only has only been practicing for 6 years, when she actually has 22 years of experience , some of it highly relevant; has never lost a case; and is the most highly rated for her qualifications and experience. Anyone wishing to compare the rating of our attorney with any of the other Stanford attorneys should refer to the following link and draw their own conclusions:

http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/02142-ma-gaytri-kachroo-1356107.html and her CV can be found here: http://www.kachroolegal.com/docs/dr_kachroo_cv.pdf

Investors in the failed Stanford International Bank, a part of the Stanford Financial Group, in receivership since the arrest of Allen Stanford, who is currently in detention in Houston awaiting trial on 23 counts of fraud, have only a few days left to submit administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the US Securities and Exchange Commission; for their negligence in not acting against Allen Stanford sooner, despite knowing for 13 years it was likely he was operating a Ponzi scheme.

The deadline for claims is fast approaching. Unless claims are submitted correctly and timely before the two year Statute of Limitations expires next month on the 16th February 2011, Stanford investors will be denied any recovery from the US government, forever.

The Stanford International Victims Group have engaged an attorney to submit FTCA claims against the SEC. This action against the SEC will not prejudice any SIPC recovery efforts, and is open to all the Stanford investors, irrespective of nationality, place of residence, or the Stanford entity in which they made their investments.

Any Stanford investors, who have not yet decided whether to join this action, should contact their own attorney at their earliest opportunity, or the attorney submitting the FTCA claims on behalf the Stanford International Victims Group: Kachroo Legal Services of Cambridge, Mass. who already have experience of submitting claims on behalf of the Madoff investors.
Email: info@kachroolegal.com

Kacheroo Letter to Colleagues

Dear Client/Affiliate/Friend of KLS:

I want to introduce Kachroo Legal Services (KLS) to you as we begin our journey of legal innovation. My legal practice has been steeped in international transactional work over the past decade of my 22 year legal career. Recently, I have received many requests from Madoff investors for legal counsel and to assist all innocent, victimized investors of the Madoff ponzi scheme as a result of my representation of my client, Harry Markopolos (often identified as the Madoff Whistleblower). Additionally, my appointment as Vice Chair of the Global Alliance on the Madoff case has allowed me to interact and deal with counsel all over the world on this case. Now, individuals and entities needing help with the identification of ethics violations or with the investigation and possible litigation of all kinds of financial fraud are seeking me out for advisory and counseling services.
My practice has always been about solving the most difficult and complex legal
situations for my clients, and doing so with an empathy and understanding that lends heart to the exercise and thereby to the solution. In this spirit, KLS will observe and assist others in observing ethical standards that may be beyond black letter law. I call this "representation with an ethic of care." KLS will recruit attorneys and staff to assist with our many litigation, transactional and government matters, who are willing to be trained in serving the client with that extra degree of empathy and understanding. We will reach beyond the ordinary boilerplate to discover and innovate solutions to "represent the client's interest" not merely to regurgitate the same language in contract and brief that has gone before. Although this means that KLS will be inventing new wheels where none exist, it does not mean that we are not aware of the wheels that exist and how to deploy them.
Please peruse and review our website thoroughly and feel free to contact us with
your questions and comments at the "contact us" page. If you are aware of and want our input, advice, counsel with regard to potential fraud of which you are aware, please complete the general fraud complaint registration form so that we can investigate briefly before getting back to you. If you are involved in any of the cases we have taken on, including the Madoff matter, please complete the specific registration form for your litigation and the general registration form. Please review the payment guide if you are using the registration portal. This may be done by a friend, relative, counsel for the investor. On the SEC litigation, there is a specific engagement letter in which a contingent fee is provided to be shared by KLS and all its affiliate firms conducting such SEC litigation.
As many of you know, I have simultaneously been working with academic, business, and law firm affiliates, including the Global Alliance on the Madoff case, on founding the International Center for Corporate and Financial Ethics and Responsibility. Watch for bulletins from the Center exhibited on our website for those that may want to get involved with the Center's educational mission for greater ethics and responsibility in the marketplace. Watch also for our upcoming blog on matters of general legal and specific Madoff interest.
We look forward to meeting and assisting you.

Email: info@kachroolegal.com

Best wishes, --Gaytri

SIPC Cover for the Americans will be paid to the detriment of International Victims

We have just learned that should the Americans be successful in their application for SIPC cover it will be to the detriment of the 20,000 remaining International Victims.

The SECURITIES INVESTOR PROTECTION ACT OF 1970 Document clearly states that the SIPC cover is considered a "LOAN" and the money will be recovered from remaining assets of the Debtor, ie any recoveries the receiver may have made from selling Allen Stanford's assets.

So to be clear, when we were told that if the Americans received SIPC cover it would leave more money for the receiver to distribute among the remaining International Victims this was incorrect. Not only will the money to pay for SIPC be recovered from the receiver he will also have to pay administration charges for the above work.
In essence the Americans will be paid SIPC cover to the detriment of every International Victim!

This is clearly unfair, all Stanford Victims should be treated equally,and certainly the few should not benefit at the expense of the many.

Sip a 70