How Allen Stanford Kept The SEC At Bay (Answer: SEC Regulators/Lawyers) - Reuters

[WillyT]

How Allen Stanford kept the SEC at bay
By Murray Waas - Reuters
Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:46pm ES

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(Reuters) - In 2009, federal investigators finally arrested Houston financier R. Allen Stanford. For twenty years, Stanford allegedly had run a $7 billion Ponzi scheme from his offshore bank on the Caribbean island of Antigua. U.S. authorities had been nosing around Stanford's empire for longer than a decade but hesitated to open a full-blown probe.

As Stanford's trial began this week, one question left unanswered was: How did he keep authorities at bay for so long? A Reuters examination of his case finds that the answer lay in part in the legal advice he obtained from former SEC officials and other ex-regulators and law-enforcement officials.

Among those Stanford sought help from was famed securities lawyer Thomas Sjoblom. Then a partner at the international law firm of Proskauer Rose and chair of its securities practice, Sjoblom also was a former 20-year veteran of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division.

What Sjoblom allegedly did next for Stanford has drawn the scrutiny of federal prosecutors. The Justice Department has been investigating Sjoblom for possible obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and conspiracy related to his efforts to persuade the SEC to stand down from its investigation of Stanford, according to people familiar with the probe.

Sjoblom is one of the most senior attorneys ever to be investigated for allegedly crossing the line from legal advocacy on behalf of a client to violating the law. He hasn't been charged, however, and it is possible he never will be.

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More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/26/us-sec-stanford-idUSTRE80P22R20120126

[msongs]

1. ex govt employees give insider information to crooks. whatta ya know nt

[WillyT]

2. Hell Of A "System" We Have Here, Huh ???

[malaise]

3. He was very very well connected

It's all in the DU archives

[leveymg]

4. SEC not the only alphabet agency he was getting advice from