TWO years before Carol Lovil’s life savings disappeared in R. Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme, she lost her husband, John, to cancer. While grieving, she asked her financial adviser at the Stanford Financial Group in Houston what she should do.
Two things still haunt her, Mrs. Lovil said in an interview this month.
She said she asked if the money she had in certificates of deposit issued by Stanford International Bank was guaranteed. It was, she said he told her.
She said she also asked whether she should pay off the mortgage on the lake home in the Texas hill country that she and her husband bought in 1999. He advised against that, she said.
When she turned on the television news on Feb. 17, 2009, and saw the offices of the Stanford Financial Group being raided, Mrs. Lovil said she did not worry. Her money was insured, she thought.
But as it became clear that the $7 billion firm, which had been based in Antigua, was running a Ponzi scheme, she began calling and sending e-mails to her adviser to find out how to get her money back. At first, she was told everything was fine and not to worry. But within a week the responses stopped.
“I was lied to about the safety of this investment,” she wrote in one e-mail to the company. In another, she wrote, “I haven’t worked in 12 years, and in my small community jobs for someone my age are scarce.”
U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied the motion Thursday in a brief order.
Stanford was convicted this month on 13 fraud-related charges for misusing money from investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank.
Prosecutors said he orchestrated the scheme to fund his businesses and lavish lifestyle. His attorneys said he was a legitimate businessman.
The 61-year-old is set to be sentenced June 14 and could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Two things still haunt her, Mrs. Lovil said in an interview this month.
She said she asked if the money she had in certificates of deposit issued by Stanford International Bank was guaranteed. It was, she said he told her.
She said she also asked whether she should pay off the mortgage on the lake home in the Texas hill country that she and her husband bought in 1999. He advised against that, she said.
When she turned on the television news on Feb. 17, 2009, and saw the offices of the Stanford Financial Group being raided, Mrs. Lovil said she did not worry. Her money was insured, she thought.
But as it became clear that the $7 billion firm, which had been based in Antigua, was running a Ponzi scheme, she began calling and sending e-mails to her adviser to find out how to get her money back. At first, she was told everything was fine and not to worry. But within a week the responses stopped.
“I was lied to about the safety of this investment,” she wrote in one e-mail to the company. In another, she wrote, “I haven’t worked in 12 years, and in my small community jobs for someone my age are scarce.”
U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied the motion Thursday in a brief order.
Stanford was convicted this month on 13 fraud-related charges for misusing money from investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank.
Prosecutors said he orchestrated the scheme to fund his businesses and lavish lifestyle. His attorneys said he was a legitimate businessman.
The 61-year-old is set to be sentenced June 14 and could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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