The start of the R. Allen Stanford trial on Monday in Houston for his alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme involving certificates of deposit is likely to be a bigger black eye for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority than was the Bernie Madoff fiasco, one attorney says. “Fortunately for the SEC, Madoff pled guilty which thereby prevented a spotlight of a trial being shined on the SEC and all of their lapses,” says Andrew Stoltmann, of Stoltmann Law Offices in Chicago. “With Allen Stanford, the SEC is not so lucky. The likely message to come out at trial will be that Stanford was yet another politically connected financer who received preferential treatment from the SEC.” Read Advisor One article here.
