Have you seen SEC-cited billionaire sleazebag "Sir Allen" Stanford? With UPDATE: Sir Sleazebag's political investments have served him well before

Have you seen this man? If so . . . well, actually,
the authorities don't seem all that interested.

by Ken

In case you didn't catch it, Howie added an update to yesterday's account of the charges by the SEC that billionaire sleazebag "Sir Allen" Stanford -- he claims to have picked up some sort of knighthood in Antigua -- had swindled investors out of who-knows-how-much out of some $8 billion worth of highly questionable CDs he sold. In that update, which I've reprinted below, he sets out the details of our Sir's apparent escape-to-Antigua attempt via a rented private plane.

And sure enough, earlier today Bloomberg reported:

U.S. regulators don’t know the whereabouts of R. Allen Stanford, the billionaire accused of running a “massive, ongoing fraud” through his Houston-based Stanford Group Co., a Securities and Exchange Commission official said.

“We don’t know where he is, quite frankly,” said Rose Romero, director of the SEC’s office in Fort Worth, Texas.

Bloomberg also reported that Sir Allen "has six planes registered with the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the agency’s Web site," and that "Alfredo Perez, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshall’s office in Houston, which yesterday raided the company’s offices there, said he isn’t aware of any arrest warrant for Stanford." (The SEC's action was limited to filing a civil suit, though Bloomberg reported, "A federal judge in Dallas agreed to freeze assets and appoint a receiver to account for the roughly $8 billion investors spent on the CDs, according to the SEC.")

In his update, Howie also had some pointed questions regarding some of Sir Allen's famous connections. Here it is again:

WHAT, STILL NO ANKLE BRACELET?

CNBC reported this morning that "Sir" Allen tried to flee the U.S. on a private plane. Apparently he's desperate to reach the banana republic he owns a healthy chunk of but was foiled, neglecting to have sent a wire transfer to rent the getaway plane. He called them at 3pm and said he had to leave by 6pm for Antigua.

Does anyone know if Chuck Schumer and the other politicians who have aided and abetted Stanford in his offshore banking shenanigans have been asked about returning any of the million plus dollars he gave them as legalized bribes over the years? And since the SEC now says they don't know Stanford's whereabouts, I'm wondering if the FBI is on this. Or have his political connections given the word that he's allowed to escape?

UPDATE: SIR SLEAZEBAG'S INVESTMENTS IN
POLITICS HAVE SERVED HIM WELL IN THE PAST

Looks like "Sir" Allen has been in trouble before-- but always got away with his crooked business practices. I guess if you hand out enough hundreds of thousands of dollars to enough political hacks on both sides of the aisle, you buy yourself plenty of protection. I just can't understand why no one is asking the politicians to turnover their share of the loot Stanford has stolen and given them.

Years before the Stanford Group was accused in a worldwide fraud, American financial regulators found significant securities violations at the company that some experts say were telltale signs of deeper problems. But each time the regulators ultimately let the company off with relatively small fines, records show.

On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Stanford might have engaged in an $8 billion fraud involving high-yielding certificates of deposit held in the company's bank in Antigua. It was run by Robert Allen Stanford, a businessman who enjoyed political connections in Antigua and in Washington, where his company lobbied extensively.

Experts said that the earlier violations amounted to a series of red flags of deeper problems. Officials at the S.E.C. said Wednesday that they were reviewing the regulatory history of Stanford, and whether the agency-- often accused of lax enforcement-- should have been more vigilant in this case.

...For years, Mr. Stanford and entities associated with him have been raining money on Congress, through campaign donations, trips and conferences in resort destinations. There is no evidence that this influenced the way regulators handled the company.

But since 2000, Mr. Stanford and his firm, along with its employees and its political action committee, have given $2.4 million in campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics-- about two-thirds to Democrats. Top recipients, the center said, included Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, $45,900; and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, $28,150.

Campaign finance records also show that in 2008 Mr. Stanford gave at least $28,000 to committees controlled by Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York. Mr. Rangel has been an outspoken champion of legislation benefiting the economic interests of Caribbean countries and residents.

Mr. Stanford and entities associated with him have also courted lawmakers with trips. For example, the Stanford Group took Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, and his wife on a three-day trip to Antigua and Barbuda for a "financial services industry fact-finding mission" shortly after the 2004 election, according to data compiled by LegiStorm, which tracks Congressional ethics disclosures.

The Times goes on to report that Sir Sleazebag "never had any specific legislative requests." And I'm sure it was just a coincidence that so much of the millions he slipped to politicians-- much of it apparently from drug laundering profits-- went to the good folks working on legislation dealing with his favorite subject: offshore banking regulations. I'm sure he's just interested in that in a kind of general, non-specific sense, of course... like in an academic way. Charlie Rangel? Now where have I heard that name before? -- Howie

#