A federal appeals court Tuesday denied a claim from investors unable to get their money from accounts connected to companies owned by troubled Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford.
The ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans comes a day after investors filed an appeal asking to overturn a lower court decision freezing their accounts. About 4,000 accounts containing about $1.7 billion remain locked under the authority of a Texas receiver appointed by a federal judge in Dallas.
Attorney Michael Quilling, who represents about 35 investors, had argued in his petition that the asset freeze violated the constitutional rights of account holders. He did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press.
Federal regulators have accused Stanford of running an $8 billion investment fraud. He has denied the allegations.
The receiver, Texas attorney Ralph Janvey, has already approved the release of about 28,000 accounts. The remaining 4,000 accounts remain locked because Janvey said they include money related to certificates of deposit at the Stanford International Bank in Antigua that are central to the government’s fraud case against Stanford and his companies.
Other frozen accounts included those owned by Stanford shareholders, board members, senior managers and financial advisers.
Janvey has notified investors of how their frozen accounts can be unlocked, but Quilling and attorneys for other investors have questioned that plan’s fairness.
Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6363402.html
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