Showing posts with label Stanford Group Company. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stanford Group Company. Show all posts
Friday, 25 February 2011
Monday, 31 January 2011
LAST CHANCE TO SUBMIT CLAIMS AGAINST THE SEC
This is a reminder that time is running out. If you are going to submit a claim please make sure you do it this week.
I spoke to Dr Kachroo this morning and she asked me to remind everyone who is going to sign with KLS, and all of you who who have requested a copy of their engagement letter, to please make sure you sign and return it THIS WEEK together with the amount of your claim, and a copy of your statement, to ensure there is time to process all of your claims before the deadline.
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Este es un recordatorio de que el tiempo se acaba. Si usted va a presentar una reclamación por favor asegúrese de hacerlo de esta semana.
Hablé con el Dr. Kachroo esta mañana y me pidió que recordar a todo el que va a firmar con KLS, y todos los que que han solicitado una copia de su carta de compromiso, que por favor asegúrese de firmar y regresar esta semana junto con el monto de su reclamo, y una copia de su declaración, asegurarse de que existe tiempo para procesar todas sus reclamaciones antes de la fecha límite.
Richard Watson
31st January 2011
I spoke to Dr Kachroo this morning and she asked me to remind everyone who is going to sign with KLS, and all of you who who have requested a copy of their engagement letter, to please make sure you sign and return it THIS WEEK together with the amount of your claim, and a copy of your statement, to ensure there is time to process all of your claims before the deadline.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Este es un recordatorio de que el tiempo se acaba. Si usted va a presentar una reclamación por favor asegúrese de hacerlo de esta semana.
Hablé con el Dr. Kachroo esta mañana y me pidió que recordar a todo el que va a firmar con KLS, y todos los que que han solicitado una copia de su carta de compromiso, que por favor asegúrese de firmar y regresar esta semana junto con el monto de su reclamo, y una copia de su declaración, asegurarse de que existe tiempo para procesar todas sus reclamaciones antes de la fecha límite.
Richard Watson
31st January 2011
Sunday, 23 January 2011
TO STANFORD BANK INVESTORS WAITING FOR SIPC COVERAGE
There have been past allegations made by the Stanford Victims Coalition (SVC) that submitting administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) may damage their political efforts for recovery under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA). They even went so far as to appeal to our attorney that SIPC cover will not only definitely be granted, but also widened to $4bn, to cover all the international investors too. We thought all these farcical arguments were in the past, but have become aware that SVC lobbying has been resurrected, following more recent comments from one group of investors.
So where does this actually leave the investors who consider they may be eligible for SIPC, and what are their chances?
Firstly, only the 8,000 Stanford investors who invested through the only SIPC registered broker-dealer, Stanford Group Company (SGC), may be eligible for cover under the SIPA, and the likelihood of widening the cover is non-existent, no matter who would have you believe otherwise. The remaining investors will be ineligible for SIPC (20,000 according to FRP, formerly Vantis, the Antiguan receiver; 13,500 according to Janvey the US receiver; they cannot even agree on how many of us were swindled).
The FTCA claims that we are campaigning for are against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), not against SIPC, so investors who may be eligible for SIPC are not prejudicing their chances by filing a claim against the SEC. To state that filing claims under the FTCA may be political suicide could not be further from the truth. There is in fact the very real possibility that should enough investors file FTCA claims, the heat will be turned up on the US Department of Justice to pressure the SEC to order SIPC coverage. It will ultimately be less expensive for the US taxpayer to foot the bill once SIPC have picked up the first $1.8 billion (or $4bn depending on who you believe). One could argue, with just as much authority, that filing a claim could actually assist Stanford investors get SIPC coverage, not hinder them.
As far as the likelihood of success of SIPC goes, please be aware the Chief Counsel of the SEC has previously stated he will not order SIPA coverage for Stanford investors as he considers his order may be challenged and defeated in court by the SIPC, which they are perfectly entitled to do. Hence the SVC campaign to lobby Congress to broaden the SIPA definition of ‘customer’. Will that happen before the statute of limitations runs out? Somewhat unlikely, since there are just 24 days left. We have seen little progress since the new Congress has re-convened, and remember, all the unsuccessful bills from last year, including the very welcome contribution from Senator Culberson, are now time expired.
And what did the Chairman of SIPC, Stephen Harbeck, tell Congress about the proposed change to SIPA to broaden the definition of ‘customer’? In his letter of August 25th 2010, to the Congressional sub-committee who proposed the amendment he stated:
"[W]e believe that the Amendment is inconsistent with SIPA's history, purpose, and provisions, and if passed, would have serious consequences for the investing public and securities broker-dealers."
"Under these facts, if a fictitious construct is applied such that investors in Stanford Bank CDs are deemed to be "customers" under SIPA with an account at Stanford Broker-Dealer, and are deemed to be eligible to recover their net investments in the Stanford Ponzi scheme in a SIPA liquidation of Stanford Broker-Dealer, it is virtually certain that satisfaction of their claims would exhaust the SIPC Fund."
In his words, even if the amendment to the Act was passed, SIPC would have insufficient funds to pay the Stanford victims (notwithstanding the Madoff victims who are also still waiting for SIPC to pay out, and they are eligible). As Mr Harbeck is still in his job, presumably he was not among the SEC staff caught with their pants down, watching porn on their laptops at work, instead of keeping their otherwise idle hands busy and investigating Stanford.
There have also been other requests from the SVC , both to our attorney, and directly to some of the investor groups, asking them to wait until the last minute to file, thus exposing investors to potential last minute problems of completeness, delivery delays, or other force majure. The Eastern seaboard is currently experiencing snow storms and blizzards disrupting business, and postal services, for example.
Perhaps this is a worthy attempt to give Congress and the SEC as much time as possible to do the right thing, but be aware these are two of the most notoriously slow bureaucracies in the US. Many investors who once trusted the SEC, and were swindled out of their hard earned life savings in return, may never trust them to come through again, in particular now the stakes are so high.
Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled some time ago that an investor may not bring a suit against SIPC to compel them to initiate a liquidation. So, there is nothing any attorney can do to help Stanford investors gain SIPC.
'We have been reading about the quest for the holy grail of SIPC fortwo years now, and it still appears no nearer, whereas the opportunityto file a protective claim against the SEC under FTCA expires in just24 days.
It is a matter of fact that FTCA claims are currently being processed and will be submitted before the Statute of Limitation expires, regardless of whether SIPC coverage occurs or not. These claims are for full recovery, open to all Stanford investors, irrespective of nationality, or place of residence, and not limited to just $500k, as is SIPC. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to file a claim under the FTCA is in the hands of each investor, but not submitting a protective claim would be foolhardy in the least.
Finally we should all remember these inopportune and unforgettable words from Angela Kogutt, Founder and Director of the SVC, shortly before she inconscionably abandoned all the non-US investors, within days of being appointed to the Stanford Investors Committee:
“Just so it’s clear, I’m not giving up on the SVC but I am simply going to… represent just the US victims. I will now….limit my efforts to benefit only the 8,000 SGC customers…I haven't met one member of Congress who would go for giving even US citizens who have been severely damaged by the government’s negligence a tax-funded bailout…..The reality is US citizens have no obligation to pay for the private investment losses for investors from around the world…an ungrateful and delusional bunch…who are doing great damage to the recovery efforts of SVC…Just because the US has money and the SEC has admitted to its horrendous mistakes does not mean the US taxpayers should pay for the losses that resulted… I am a US citizen …and have a lot better feel for how things work….and don’t want anyone doing something that hurts what we have so carefully done this past year in Washington…..My hope is that the recent Gag Order prevents these radicals from going too far.
So now we all know where the SVC stands. Fortunately we were not gagged, and the Statute of Limitations has not been allowed to slip quietly by.
FTCA claims take several days to process and must be submitted correctly and timely before the deadline of 16th February 2011, when the Statute of Limitations expires or Stanford investors will be denied any recovery from the US government, forever.
Any Stanford investors who have not yet decided, should contact their attorney at their earliest opportunity, or the attorney submitting the FTCA claims on behalf the Stanford International investors: Kachroo Legal Services of Cambridge, Mass, who already have considerable experience of submitting claims on behalf of the Madoff investors. Email: info@kachroolegal.com
Should any Stanford investors wish for more detail of this campaign and the various arguments, please register for our free and private investor’s forum, which is available to all bona-fide investors in the failed Stanford Financial Group: http://svg.creatuforo.com/profile.php?mode=register
or more information can be obtained on the Stanford Forgotten Victims blog at
http://stanfordsforgottenvictims.blogspot.com/
Written by David Brent
For Stanford International Victims Group
So where does this actually leave the investors who consider they may be eligible for SIPC, and what are their chances?
Firstly, only the 8,000 Stanford investors who invested through the only SIPC registered broker-dealer, Stanford Group Company (SGC), may be eligible for cover under the SIPA, and the likelihood of widening the cover is non-existent, no matter who would have you believe otherwise. The remaining investors will be ineligible for SIPC (20,000 according to FRP, formerly Vantis, the Antiguan receiver; 13,500 according to Janvey the US receiver; they cannot even agree on how many of us were swindled).
The FTCA claims that we are campaigning for are against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), not against SIPC, so investors who may be eligible for SIPC are not prejudicing their chances by filing a claim against the SEC. To state that filing claims under the FTCA may be political suicide could not be further from the truth. There is in fact the very real possibility that should enough investors file FTCA claims, the heat will be turned up on the US Department of Justice to pressure the SEC to order SIPC coverage. It will ultimately be less expensive for the US taxpayer to foot the bill once SIPC have picked up the first $1.8 billion (or $4bn depending on who you believe). One could argue, with just as much authority, that filing a claim could actually assist Stanford investors get SIPC coverage, not hinder them.
As far as the likelihood of success of SIPC goes, please be aware the Chief Counsel of the SEC has previously stated he will not order SIPA coverage for Stanford investors as he considers his order may be challenged and defeated in court by the SIPC, which they are perfectly entitled to do. Hence the SVC campaign to lobby Congress to broaden the SIPA definition of ‘customer’. Will that happen before the statute of limitations runs out? Somewhat unlikely, since there are just 24 days left. We have seen little progress since the new Congress has re-convened, and remember, all the unsuccessful bills from last year, including the very welcome contribution from Senator Culberson, are now time expired.
And what did the Chairman of SIPC, Stephen Harbeck, tell Congress about the proposed change to SIPA to broaden the definition of ‘customer’? In his letter of August 25th 2010, to the Congressional sub-committee who proposed the amendment he stated:
"[W]e believe that the Amendment is inconsistent with SIPA's history, purpose, and provisions, and if passed, would have serious consequences for the investing public and securities broker-dealers."
"Under these facts, if a fictitious construct is applied such that investors in Stanford Bank CDs are deemed to be "customers" under SIPA with an account at Stanford Broker-Dealer, and are deemed to be eligible to recover their net investments in the Stanford Ponzi scheme in a SIPA liquidation of Stanford Broker-Dealer, it is virtually certain that satisfaction of their claims would exhaust the SIPC Fund."
In his words, even if the amendment to the Act was passed, SIPC would have insufficient funds to pay the Stanford victims (notwithstanding the Madoff victims who are also still waiting for SIPC to pay out, and they are eligible). As Mr Harbeck is still in his job, presumably he was not among the SEC staff caught with their pants down, watching porn on their laptops at work, instead of keeping their otherwise idle hands busy and investigating Stanford.
There have also been other requests from the SVC , both to our attorney, and directly to some of the investor groups, asking them to wait until the last minute to file, thus exposing investors to potential last minute problems of completeness, delivery delays, or other force majure. The Eastern seaboard is currently experiencing snow storms and blizzards disrupting business, and postal services, for example.
Perhaps this is a worthy attempt to give Congress and the SEC as much time as possible to do the right thing, but be aware these are two of the most notoriously slow bureaucracies in the US. Many investors who once trusted the SEC, and were swindled out of their hard earned life savings in return, may never trust them to come through again, in particular now the stakes are so high.
Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled some time ago that an investor may not bring a suit against SIPC to compel them to initiate a liquidation. So, there is nothing any attorney can do to help Stanford investors gain SIPC.
'We have been reading about the quest for the holy grail of SIPC fortwo years now, and it still appears no nearer, whereas the opportunityto file a protective claim against the SEC under FTCA expires in just24 days.
It is a matter of fact that FTCA claims are currently being processed and will be submitted before the Statute of Limitation expires, regardless of whether SIPC coverage occurs or not. These claims are for full recovery, open to all Stanford investors, irrespective of nationality, or place of residence, and not limited to just $500k, as is SIPC. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to file a claim under the FTCA is in the hands of each investor, but not submitting a protective claim would be foolhardy in the least.
Finally we should all remember these inopportune and unforgettable words from Angela Kogutt, Founder and Director of the SVC, shortly before she inconscionably abandoned all the non-US investors, within days of being appointed to the Stanford Investors Committee:
“Just so it’s clear, I’m not giving up on the SVC but I am simply going to… represent just the US victims. I will now….limit my efforts to benefit only the 8,000 SGC customers…I haven't met one member of Congress who would go for giving even US citizens who have been severely damaged by the government’s negligence a tax-funded bailout…..The reality is US citizens have no obligation to pay for the private investment losses for investors from around the world…an ungrateful and delusional bunch…who are doing great damage to the recovery efforts of SVC…Just because the US has money and the SEC has admitted to its horrendous mistakes does not mean the US taxpayers should pay for the losses that resulted… I am a US citizen …and have a lot better feel for how things work….and don’t want anyone doing something that hurts what we have so carefully done this past year in Washington…..My hope is that the recent Gag Order prevents these radicals from going too far.
So now we all know where the SVC stands. Fortunately we were not gagged, and the Statute of Limitations has not been allowed to slip quietly by.
FTCA claims take several days to process and must be submitted correctly and timely before the deadline of 16th February 2011, when the Statute of Limitations expires or Stanford investors will be denied any recovery from the US government, forever.
Any Stanford investors who have not yet decided, should contact their attorney at their earliest opportunity, or the attorney submitting the FTCA claims on behalf the Stanford International investors: Kachroo Legal Services of Cambridge, Mass, who already have considerable experience of submitting claims on behalf of the Madoff investors. Email: info@kachroolegal.com
Should any Stanford investors wish for more detail of this campaign and the various arguments, please register for our free and private investor’s forum, which is available to all bona-fide investors in the failed Stanford Financial Group: http://svg.creatuforo.com/profile.php?mode=register
or more information can be obtained on the Stanford Forgotten Victims blog at
http://stanfordsforgottenvictims.blogspot.com/
Written by David Brent
For Stanford International Victims Group
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
TIME RUNNING OUT FOR INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS TO REGISTER THEIR CLAIM WITH THE SEC
Time is running out for Stanford investors.
Those who have not already filed a claim must consult their attorney without delay or the attorney hired by the Stanford International Investors. Dr Gaytri Kachroo of Kachroo Legal Services is experienced in submitting FTCA claims, having already done so for many Madoff investors. Contact: info@kachroolegal.com
From their experience of dealing with the Madoff investors claims, KLS have asked that Stanford International investors must make contact by JANUARY 15th to be certain there is sufficient time to process and submit their claims.
Stanford investors must file administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the Securities and Exchange Commission before the deadline of 16th February 2011, after which claims are barred forever under the statute of limitations.
If you leave it until later, you run the risk of being too late.
Those who have not already filed a claim must consult their attorney without delay or the attorney hired by the Stanford International Investors. Dr Gaytri Kachroo of Kachroo Legal Services is experienced in submitting FTCA claims, having already done so for many Madoff investors. Contact: info@kachroolegal.com
From their experience of dealing with the Madoff investors claims, KLS have asked that Stanford International investors must make contact by JANUARY 15th to be certain there is sufficient time to process and submit their claims.
Stanford investors must file administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the Securities and Exchange Commission before the deadline of 16th February 2011, after which claims are barred forever under the statute of limitations.
If you leave it until later, you run the risk of being too late.
STANFORD INVESTORS FACE DILEMMA
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 fraud charges, face a dilemma.
The various investor groups appear to have been split, deciding whether to pin their hopes of recovery on the political efforts of the Stanford Victims Coalition, who have been lobbying for SIPC coverage, eligible only to investors of the registered broker-dealer, Stanford Group Company, comprising mostly domestic US investors. After almost two years, there are still few signs of any successful resolution.
The other groups, headed by the Stanford International investors, have engaged an attorney to submit administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the SEC, for their negligence in failing to act against Stanford sooner, despite knowing for 13 years, it was likely a Ponzi scheme. They claim the action against the SEC will not prejudice any SIPC recovery efforts, and is open to all the Stanford investors, irrespective of nationality.
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.
Any Stanford investors who have not yet decided which is best for them, should contact their attorney at their earliest opportunity, or the attorney submitting the FTCA claims on behalf the Stanford International investors: Kachroo Legal Services of Cambridge, Mass: info@kachroolegal.com who are already experienced in submitted claims on behalf of the Madoff investors.
The various investor groups appear to have been split, deciding whether to pin their hopes of recovery on the political efforts of the Stanford Victims Coalition, who have been lobbying for SIPC coverage, eligible only to investors of the registered broker-dealer, Stanford Group Company, comprising mostly domestic US investors. After almost two years, there are still few signs of any successful resolution.
The other groups, headed by the Stanford International investors, have engaged an attorney to submit administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the SEC, for their negligence in failing to act against Stanford sooner, despite knowing for 13 years, it was likely a Ponzi scheme. They claim the action against the SEC will not prejudice any SIPC recovery efforts, and is open to all the Stanford investors, irrespective of nationality.
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.
Any Stanford investors who have not yet decided which is best for them, should contact their attorney at their earliest opportunity, or the attorney submitting the FTCA claims on behalf the Stanford International investors: Kachroo Legal Services of Cambridge, Mass: info@kachroolegal.com who are already experienced in submitted claims on behalf of the Madoff investors.