Stanford Investors Claim Lawyers Enabled $7 Billion Fraud

Two of R. Allen Stanford’s former law firms were sued by defrauded investors who claim the lawyers crafted corporate structures that enabled the financier’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme for more than 20 years. The proposed class-action, or group, lawsuit filed in federal court in Dallas by investors and Stanford’s court- appointed receiver seeks the return of $10 million in legal fees and more than $7 billion in damages from Greenberg Traurig LLP and Hunton & Williams LLP.
These law firms employed Miami attorney Carlos Loumiet, who served as Stanford’s outside general counsel, from 1988 through 2009. Yolanda Suarez, Stanford’s former chief of staff and general counsel, also worked at Greenberg Traurig before joining Stanford Financial Group Co. in 1992. Suarez, a former protégée of Loumiet described in the complaint as Stanford’s “right- hand,” is named as an individual defendant, while Loumiet isn’t. More on Bloomberg here.