Scam of the Week
Everyone thought that comedy would fall into a recession after the Bush presidency ended. Not so fast you doomsayers of humor. Enter the era of the exposed scam. It seems that every few weeks a new scam is uncovered. Todays entry is Allen Stanford whom the SEC has seen fit to pin more allegations on than a donkey’s cartoon butt at an eight year old’s birthday party. Those allegations against Mr. Stanford and his bank, the Stanford International Bank, include, but are not limited to, attempting to drain $178 million in the past two weeks alone and selling 8 billion pounds sterling in certificates of deposit claiming unrealistically high rates of return. It is also alleged that the Stanford Group sold 1 billion of a proprietary mutual fund by
"using materially false and misleading historical performance data."
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us
The nefarious doings started to unravel when the attorney cooperating with the SEC investigation disaffirmed everything he had told authorities up to that point. www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid. This disaffirmation was a bit of a red flag to the investigators who did not, apparently, mis-underestimate the ramifications of such a denial.
But wait, it gets better. Apparently Mr.Stanford was on the long list of people and organizations swindled by Bernard Madoff; this according to the SEC, though Stanford denies it. The writers for Letterman, Leno, Mahr and all the others are scrambling as I write this. Open your window; you can almost hear the sound of pens scratching off in the distance.
"So, Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford walk into a bar…."
I would pay good hard-earned money to see a transcript of the conversation between the two of them. Stanford bought some of what Madoff was peddling. Did Madoff invest in any of the SIB offerings? Isnt this kind of like when you hold a mirror up to a mirror? We have uncovered a new Zen meditation point for the 21st century. If a swindler swindles a swindler, is it really a scam at all? I wonder if they liked each other on a personal level, or if one thought the other particularly honest or trustworthy. I wonder if they had plans to meet again socially. H.L. Mencken said
“never overestimate the decency of the human race.”He had no idea how his words would just keep on resonating.
By Myron Gushlak