COALICION VICTIMAS DE STANFORD AMERICA LATINA (COViSAL)
Joint
Liquidators Must Comply with U.S. Court Order
An open letter from COViSAL to
the Joint Liquidators
of the Stanford International Bank Limited,
Marcus Wide and
Hugh Dickson
August 6,
2012
Dear Mr. Wide and Mr. Dickson,
We, non-US citizens, victims of the fraud
perpetrated by R. Allen Stanford, gathered to defend our rights in the Coalición
Víctimas de Stanford, América Latina (“COViSAL”), urge you to comply with Judge
Godbey's Order issued on July 31, 2012.
COViSAL consists of more than 600 duly registered
families and over 1,000 unregistered members and followers who were robbed
hundreds of millions of dollars with fraudulent CD’s from Stanford
International Banks Ltd. (“SIBL”). They
are citizens from countries in Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean,
Canada, and Europe. The majority of affected victims are modest people,
families with children, some sick or with special needs - many are elderly, ill
and/or close to retirement - who are now unable to pay for their critical
medical treatments because they lost all of their life savings.
COViSAL has been recognized by the authorities
responsible for finding resolutions to the Stanford Case. Recently, we were invited by the U.S. District
Judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas to present our
testimony at the Stanford’s sentencing hearing. COViSAL also received an invitation from the
Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to attend a forum in Washington.
Where are the Latin
American and international victims located?
Of the total of 21,739 Stanford’s victims, 84% are
non-US citizens, and 70% are victims from Latin America. The largest groups of
victims are in the Americas, and they are:
Venezuela: 9,278 total depositors (43%); $2 billion dollars in
claims (28%).
United States: 3,409 depositors (16%); $1.6 billion dollars in
claims (22%).
Mexico: 3,604 depositors (17%); $1.3 billion dollars in claims (17%).
Colombia: 887 depositors (4%); $294 million in claims (4%).
Perú: 482 depositors (2.2%); $167 million in claims (2.3%).
Ecuador: 408 depositors (1.9%); $79 million in claims (1%).
Source: Marcus Wide Testimony, June 16, 2012, http://scribd.com/doc/102020962;
Joint Liquidator’s brief 2009: http://www.stanfordfinancialreceivership.com/documents/14.pdf
Why did victims from
Latin America purchase the
certificates of deposit
(“CDs”) from SIBL?
Latin Americans deposited their savings in SIBL to
preserve them from the unwise economic policies of their countries of origin, to
save for emergency medical expenses, to ensure their children's education, and
to guarantee a dignified old age during retirement.
Mr. Marcus Wide said in
the online presentation (Webinar) on October 11, 2011: “… One of the reasons people invested in Stanford
International Bank was that it was not the US, it was outside the US, and to find
suddenly that you are dealing with the US Government with respect to your
account may be distasteful, and not what was intended by people who put money
there.”
Link to listen in
English the paragraph mentioned above:
However, the reality for the Latin American victims
was the opposite. The majority of Latin Americans deposited their savings in SIBL because
it was one among hundreds of companies that made up the Stanford Financial
Group (“SFG”), an American holding that operated in and from the United
States under U.S. regulations.
The never-ending Saga
Three (3) years,
five months and 21 days have passed since our savings were stolen; so far, all we
have seen is how the remnants of our savings are vanishing in the millions of
dollars in legal fees, expenses and a useless jurisdictional battle between you
and the US Receiver. Additionally, you continue to spend our money in legal
fights against the DOJ for the control of the $330 million dollars frozen in
Europe and Canada.
COViSAL’s members
as well as other Stanford’s victims do not want you to keep $66 million dollars
for the development of uncertain real estate projects in Antigua, to finance
lawsuits against third parties, or to pay for professional fees. We want the $330 million dollars distributed,
completely and directly, to SIBL’s CD victims, and under the guidelines and
supervision of the DOJ.
Now, since you are
“acting under the auspices of Grant Thornton,
the 5th largest accounting firm in the world,” and proudly boast of your 60
years of experience as an insolvency professional, then why does not Grant
Thornton provide the financing for the recovery of our stolen assets? Why do
innocent victims have to assume all the risk?
If you are so confident
about recovering 40-50% of our patrimony, as you mentioned in your recent
communication to the creditors, why don’t you work on a contingency-fee basis
system?
Why continue to
disregard the fact that this crime is causing innocent victims to die by
delaying the restitution of their stolen money and safety net? Why continue to misuse what it is left of our
savings?
What happened to
the implementation of the “Victim-Creditor Centered Philosophy” preached by you
on the Webinar of October 11, 2011? That philosophy reads:
· “Mr. Wide and Mr. Dickson understand that
the SIB creditor body is made up of thousands of innocent victims, many of whom
have lost their life savings or nest eggs, and they are committed to working
toward maximizing the victims, recovery as quickly as possible.
· Mr. Wide and Mr. Dickson are committed to a
transparent, victim-driven, liquidation process.
· Mr. Wide and Mr. Dickson are committed to
seeking cooperation and collaboration and to avoiding competition and
confrontation to the fullest extent possible and as long as that approach is
consistent with their duties and best interests of the creditors-victims.
· Mr. Wide and Mr. Dickson are committed to
running a cost-effective liquidation to maximize distribution to the
creditor-victims.”
Source: Joint
Liquidators Webinar Presentation October 11, 2011;
Up to this point,
we feel that our interests are not adequately represented because we perceive
that the instinct of the auditing and asset recovery firms is mainly focused on
growing their business through the generation of fees and expenses, while the
victims remain at the bottom of the barrel.
What is more, we
wonder, why haven’t you taken any legal action against the Antigua Government
which owes the Stanford’s patrimony more than $100 million dollars?
We ask for clarity
and transparency; and the end of a self-serving economic interest that
irrationally pursues control over the assets, wasting what is recovered of our patrimony
in a never-ending and unnecessary legal tug of war.
U.S.
District Judge David Godbey’s Order
Judge Godbey ruled that
the Center of Main Interest (“COMI”) for all the Stanford entities was in the
United States (“U.S.”), and consequently, the U.S. is the epicenter of
Stanford’s $7 billion dollars international fraud scheme.
Clearly, SIBL was a front
used to camouflage the scheme from the United States regulators and others; a fraud
that was orchestrated, controlled and managed from the United States.
The Court criticized
your actions and tactics for your “repeated
interference” with the US Receivership, and considered them as being the
norm more than the exception. We were, to
some extent, surprised that the Court noted that you had “admitted seeking funds first to fund your current operations, which
include challenging the Receiver’s authority worldwide, not to distribute to
investors/victims and creditors.”
It is time to be less “litigious and calculating," and more cooperative and
trustworthy. You should seriously
consider implementing the “Victim-Creditor Centered Philosophy"
and what you additionally expressed
in communications to Creditors: “…we
recognize that the Creditors of the Bank are the ultimate stakeholders with the
economic interest in the outcome of the Liquidation."
Accordingly, we feel that you must focus your
efforts in coordinating the recovery of our stolen assets with the US Receiver,
the Department of Justice, the SEC, and the Official Stanford Investors
Committee - cooperatively and honestly - in the most economical and efficient
manner, without duplicating efforts and without wasting our patrimony. Your decisions and actions must be carried out
considering the best interests of all of us, the Stanford’s victims.
Finally, COViSAL demands that you comply with Judge
David Godbey’s Court Order, and desist from appealing the Order.
Mr. Wide and Mr. Dickson, don’t let us down.
Sincerely,
/s/ Jaime R. Escalona
Jaime R. Escalona
On behalf of COViSAL
Leader
Coalición Víctimas de Stanford América Latina (COViSAL)
Twitter: @COViSAL