DALLAS — A federal judge ruled Monday that thousands of investor accounts with Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford’s financial companies will remain frozen for another 10 days, and a court-appointed receiver said he’s developing a plan to return some of the money to its owners.
The accounts have been frozen by a temporary restraining order during the federal investigation of Stanford’s businesses. U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey on Monday extended the order until March 12.
Stanford’s companies have been in receivership since the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil action alleging involvement in an $8 billion investment fraud. Stanford is accused in the civil charges but has not been charged with a crime.
Chuck Meadows, an attorney representing Stanford, said his client denies the allegations made in the government’s amended claim filed Friday. That claim accused Stanford and his finance chief, James M. Davis, of conducting a “massive Ponzi scheme,” misappropriating billions of dollars of investors’ money and falsifying bank financial statements to conceal the fraud.
Texas lawyer Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver authorized to freeze the assets of the billionaire and his main companies, said the Stanford companies have a “liquidity problem . . . and tens of millions in unpaid bills.”
Janvey said he will file a plan by March 16 to start releasing accounts of less than $100,000 to their owners. He said he has already released some mutual-fund accounts.
The freeze has affected hundreds of ordinary investors now having trouble paying their bills. Aurelio Fernandez, who represents more than 600 Vene zuelan investors, said his clients have been unable to access their money.
“This is more than a legal case. This is a real human tragedy for many families,” he said. “There are people who have lost their means of economic support.”
