ABC: FBI investigating Stanford for drug cartel money laundering .

[aquart]

Well, well, well. Now he really does have reason to hide.

[malaise]

1. Weren't the first persons who showed up in Antigua

Columbians.

[aquart]

2. No idea. How very interesting.

Send lawyers, guns, and money. The shit has hit the fan.

[malaise]

5. This is definitely an

'Oh shit' link. ABC has ditched the Republican contacts.
<snip>
The SEC's fraud charges may be the least of accused financial scammer R. Allen Stanford's worries. Federal authorities tell ABC News that the FBI and others have been investigating whether Stanford was involved in laundering drug money for Mexico's notorious Gulf Cartel.

Authorities tell ABC News that as part of the investigation, which has been ongoing since last year, Mexican authorities detained one of Stanford's private planes. According to officials, checks found inside the plane were believed to be connected to the Gulf cartel, reputed to be Mexico's most violent gang. Authorities say Stanford could potentially face criminal charges of money laundering and bribery of foreign officials.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6907429&page=1

[tridim]

3. They should investigate BushCo too for the same crimes.

Stanford looked quite coked up in some of the video footage I've seen

[leftstreet]

4. This could get messy

Accused Financier Under Federal Drug Investigation
Authorities:Stanford May Have Laundered Drug Money for Mexican Cartel
February 18, 2009

The SEC's fraud charges may be the least of accused financial scammer R. Allen Stanford's worries. Federal authorities tell ABC News that the FBI and others have been investigating whether Stanford was involved in laundering drug money for Mexico's notorious Gulf Cartel.

Authorities tell ABC News that as part of the investigation, which has been ongoing since last year, Mexican authorities detained one of Stanford's private planes. According to officials, checks found inside the plane were believed to be connected to the Gulf cartel, reputed to be Mexico's most violent gang. Authorities say Stanford could potentially face criminal charges of money laundering and bribery of foreign officials.

(snip)

The federal investigation, however, did not stop Stanford from using corporate money to become a big man at last year's Democratic convention in Denver.

A video posted on the firm's web-site shows Stanford, now sought by U.S. Marshals, being hugged by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and praised by former President Bill Clinton for helping to finance a convention-related forum and party put on by the National Democratic Institute.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6907429&page=1

[malaise]

6. They've deliberately left out Delay

Cornyn and Sessions and he threw in 100,000 for Bush's inauguration in 2004 WTF!!!!!
Stanford was playing both sides.

[leftstreet]

7. Yep, he was being Fair and Balanced with his $$

What a mess

[malaise]

8. Time to post those links to

Delay, Sessions, Cornyn and the Bush 2004 inauguration on the ABC comments pages.

[malaise]

9. S.E.C. Fines Didn’t Avert Stanford Group Case

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/business/19stanford.html?_r=1&hp
<snip>
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.

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.

In 2007, the S.E.C. found that the Stanford Group did not have adequate capital to meet the requirements of being a broker-dealer. The company paid $20,000 to settle those charges. Later that same year the firm was censured and paid an additional $10,000 to resolve accusations that it had provided “misleading, unfair and unbalanced information” about its certificates of deposit, according to records kept by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the agency known as Finra that polices Wall Street for the S.E.C.

Late last year, Stanford paid $30,000 to resolve a third set of accusations by Finra that the company had failed in its research reports to adequately disclose a variety of research methods and the way it was valuing certain securities.