Analytical Wealth

(From the Associated Press): "WASHINGTON – Texas financier R. Allen Stanford was tracked down Thursday in Virginia, where FBI agents served him with legal papers in a multibillion-dollar fraud case.

FBI agents, acting at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission, served Stanford court orders and other documents, the FBI and the SEC said.

Stanford is not under arrest and is not in custody.

In a civil complaint Tuesday, the SEC accused Stanford, two other executives and three of his companies with committing an $8 billion fraud that lured investors with promises of improbable and unsubstantiated high returns on certificates of deposit and other investments. It's not clear how much of the $8 billion was lost and how much investors might recover.

Until regulators got help Thursday from the FBI, the SEC had not been able to find Stanford.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the billionaire was served Thursday afternoon by an agent who had staked out a location in Fredericksburg, Va.

Around 1:45 p.m., the agent spotted Stanford in a car driven by Stanford's girlfriend. The agent spoke to Stanford, who was riding in the passenger side, the official said. The agent handed Stanford the SEC complaint, a federal court order freezing Stanford's assets and another order naming a receiver.

Stanford told the agent he understood and would make arrangements to surrender his passport, the official said."

Well that was anti-climatic. I would've expected that they would've found him in a foreign locale without extradition laws, or a remote portion of the US, but not VA. Granted he's only facing a civil complaint at this point, but you'd think someone facing a $8 billion fraud charge would either hide or come forward immediately to defend themselves.

I'm not sure what to make of the fact that he didn't really come forward but he didn't really hide either.

Either way if you've been operating in enough of a "grey area" to attract the attention of law enforcement for over 15 years, you're either bending (but not breaking) laws or you're extremely clever. It may take a while for all of the agencies involved to unravel everything and figure out what's truly going on here. I wouldn't be surprised if what's been found out so far is only the tip of the iceberg.

You can read more here.

Sources:

The Associated Press: "FBI tracks down Texas Financier in fraud case" -- Devlin Barrett, February 19, 2009.

Disclosure: at the time of publishing the author didn't own a position in any of the companies mentioned in this article; the ideas expressed are solely the opinions of the author and shouldn't be viewed as financial or investment advice.