[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 346 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 346
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the Government of Antigua
and Barbuda and its actions relating to the Stanford Financial Group
fraud.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 8, 2011
Mr. Vitter (for himself, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Cochran, and Mr. Wicker)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the Government of Antigua
and Barbuda and its actions relating to the Stanford Financial Group
fraud.
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has committed numerous acts
against the interests of United States citizens and operated the
financial sector and judicial system of Antigua and Barbuda in a manner
that is manifestly contrary to the public policy of the United States;
Whereas 20,000 investors, including many United States citizens, lost
$7,200,000,000 in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving fictitious
certificates of deposit from Stanford International Bank, an offshore
bank chartered in Antigua and Barbuda;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda violated the order of the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Texas regarding the
receivership proceeding initiated at the request of the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission (referred to in this preamble as the
``Securities and Exchange Commission''), in which the court took
exclusive control of all the assets owned by Allen Stanford and
Stanford-affiliated entities around the world and documents relating to
those assets;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda challenged the authority of the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas by--
(1) initiating a separate and competing liquidation proceeding for
Stanford International Bank; and
(2) appointing liquidators who have defied the orders of the court in
multiple jurisdictions around the world by litigating for control of
hundreds of millions of dollars in bank accounts in the United Kingdom,
Switzerland, and Canada;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda challenged the authority of the
United States Department of Justice by seeking to obtain control of
hundreds of millions of dollars in bank accounts in the United Kingdom,
Switzerland, and Canada that had been frozen at the request of the
Department of Justice in accordance with multilateral criminal asset
forfeiture treaties;
Whereas the courts of Antigua and Barbuda have denied recognition of the United
States district court-appointed receiver for all assets of Allen
Stanford and Stanford-affiliated entities;
Whereas the Stanford International Bank liquidators appointed by the Eastern
Caribbean Court of Appeals now seek recognition of the Antigua and
Barbuda liquidation proceeding as a foreign insolvency proceeding under
chapter 15 of title 11, United States Code, in the United States
District Court for the Northern District of Texas;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda acknowledged in a statement in
March 2010 that--
(1) Stanford International Bank ``was operating in Antigua as a transit
point and for purposes of registration and regulation''; and
(2) ``[t]he business of Stanford International Bank, Ltd. was run from
Houston, Texas, and its books maintained in Memphis, Tennessee'';
Whereas Allen Stanford, the Stanford Financial Group, and the Government of
Antigua and Barbuda enjoyed a mutually beneficial business relationship
involving numerous economic development projects and loans to the
government of at least $85,000,000, and forensic accounting reports have
identified those loans as having been made from Stanford International
Bank certificate of deposit funds;
Whereas, in June 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Allen
Stanford bribed Leroy King, the chief executive officer of the Financial
Services Regulatory Commission of Antigua and Barbuda, to persuade Leroy
King to--
(1) not investigate Stanford International Bank;
(2) provide Allen Stanford with access to the confidential files of the
Financial Services Regulatory Commission;
(3) allow Allen Stanford to dictate the response of the Financial
Services Regulatory Commission to inquiries by the Securities and Exchange
Commission about Stanford International Bank; and
(4) withhold information from the Securities and Exchange Commission;
Whereas, in June 2010, the United States Department of Justice indicted Leroy
King on criminal charges and ordered Leroy King to be extradited to the
United States;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has failed to complete the process
of extraditing Leroy King to the United States to stand trial;
Whereas Dr. Errol Cort, who served as the Minister of Finance of Antigua and
Barbuda from 2004 to 2009, allegedly received more than $1,000,000 of
fraudulently transferred Stanford investor funds either directly or
indirectly through his law firm, Cort & Cort;
Whereas Cort & Cort, the law firm of Dr. Errol Cort, served as the official
registered agent for Stanford International Bank until June 2009;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, along with the Eastern Caribbean
Central Bank--
(1) seized control and possession of the Allen Stanford-owned Bank of
Antigua without compensation to the United States district court-appointed
receiver;
(2) renamed that bank the ``Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank''; and
(3) allocated a 40 percent ownership position to the Government of
Antigua and Barbuda and 60 percent ownership to 5 Eastern Caribbean Central
Bank member banks;
Whereas, after the fraud that the Stanford Financial Group allegedly perpetrated
was made public, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda expropriated
numerous Allen Stanford-owned properties in Antigua and Barbuda worth up
to several hundred million dollars, and the government has not turned
over those properties to the United States district court-appointed
receiver;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda expropriated without compensation
the property known as the Half Moon Bay Resort, which is owned by a
group of 12 United States citizens; and
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda--
(1) has sought and obtained loans from the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development and the International Development
Association (commonly known as the ``World Bank'') and the International
Monetary Fund; and
(2) is the recipient of other direct and indirect aid from the United
States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) provision of all further direct or indirect aid or
assistance, including assistance derived from Federal funds, by
the United States Government to the Government of Antigua and
Barbuda should be suspended until the Government of Antigua and
Barbuda provides complete redress of the issues described in
the preamble, including through--
(A) the full cooperation of the Government of
Antigua and Barbuda and any appointee of that
government, including the joint liquidators of Stanford
International Bank, with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission, the United States Department
of Justice, the United States district court-appointed
receiver, and the United States district court-
appointed Stanford Investors Committee, in
investigating the Stanford Financial Group fraud and
marshaling the assets of Allen Stanford and all
Stanford-affiliated entities;
(B) an agreement by the Government of Antigua and
Barbuda to be subject to the jurisdiction and bound by
the judgment of any United States court that
adjudicates the claims relating to the Stanford
Financial Group fraud;
(C) the transfer of the assets seized by the
Government of Antigua and Barbuda, or obtained by the
joint liquidators of Stanford International Bank, to
the United States district court-appointed receiver for
the benefit of victims of the Stanford Financial Group
fraud;
(D) a contribution by the Government of Antigua and
Barbuda to the United States receivership estate for
the benefit of victims of the Stanford Financial Group
fraud, in an amount equal to the amount of any funds
that Allen Stanford or any Stanford-affiliated entity
provided to the Government or government officials of
Antigua and Barbuda;
(E) a contribution by the Government of Antigua and
Barbuda to the United States receivership estate for
the benefit of victims of the Stanford Financial Group
fraud, in an amount equal to any payments that Allen
Stanford or the Stanford Financial Group made to Leroy
King or any other official of the Government of Antigua
and Barbuda for the purpose of subverting regulatory
oversight of Stanford International Bank;
(F) the fulfillment by the Government of Antigua
and Barbuda of its obligations relating to the
expropriation of the Half Moon Bay Resort; and
(G) an agreement by the Government of Antigua and
Barbuda to not--
(i) interfere with the receivership
commenced by the United States Government; and
(ii) seek control of assets claimed by the
United States Government; and
(2) the Secretary of the Treasury should direct the United
States Executive Directors of the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development and the International
Development Association (commonly known as the ``World Bank'')
and the International Monetary Fund to use the voice and vote
of the United States to ensure that any future loan made by the
World Bank or the International Monetary Fund to the Government
of Antigua and Barbuda is conditioned on providing complete
redress of the matters, and satisfaction of the requirements,
described under paragraph (1).
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