Bruce Carton April 19, 2012
The often-criticized efforts of
the court-appointed receiver in the Allen Stanford case to recover all possible
funds for victims has taken a quirky turn in Stanford's home state of Texas.
The Houston Chronicle reports that prior to his arrest, Stanford was a major
political donor in the state, who along with his employees gave nearly $2.4
million to politicians in both parties since 2001. The receiver wants the
politicians to return these "ill-gotten" campaign contributions for the
benefit of the victims of Stanford's Ponzi scheme, but is running into
significant resistance.
The Chronicle reports that some
of the recipients of these contributions such as Texas Republican Sens. Kay
Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn previously gave the contributions they
received from Stanford to charity when they learned of the scandal. Kevin
Sadler, a lawyer for the receiver, told the Chronicle that giving the money to
charity was a "meaningless act"
that will not stop the receiver
from trying to recoup those funds from the politicians. "The fact they
gave money away to some other charity doesn't mean they're not in possession of
money that doesn't belong to them," Sadler said.
To date, four Texas lawmakers
have elected to return the contribution received from Stanford to the receiver
as demanded. Many more have not complied, including "five national party
committees, one Texas-based PAC, both Texas senators and six Texas
representatives...." The receiver has now filed lawsuits against five
political party committees demanding the return of the contributions. According
to the Chronicle, a court ruled last year that the committees must repay the
contributions, plus attorney's fees. The committees' appeal of the ruling will
reportedly be argued on May 1.
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