R. Allen Stanford, the Texas billionaire accused by regulators of running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme, must face an Internal Revenue Service claim against him for $227 million in back taxes as part of the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas ruled yesterday that the agency may seek taxes, interest and penalties from claims dating from 1999 to 2001 as part of the regulatory lawsuit against Stanford. The financier and his estranged wife, Susan, also will be allowed to appeal the IRS claim to tax court, where Godbey ordered that any further action be stayed until the civil fraud case is resolved.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Stanford, two associates and three affiliated companies on Feb. 17, accusing them of “massive ongoing fraud” involving high-yield certificates of deposit through Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.
Godbey froze all of Stanford’s personal and corporate assets and placed them under the control of receiver Ralph Janvey, a Dallas lawyer. Godbey’s order yesterday also allows the IRS to proceed with claims for unspecified back taxes from the Stanfords, who are in the midst of a divorce, for 1999 through 2008.
Stanford and his wife were ordered to file their 2007 tax returns either jointly or separately by May 15.
Jurisdiction Dispute
Janvey also filed papers asking Godbey to force Hunton & Williams LLP, a Washington law firm, to turn over all files related to Stanford companies in Antigua, Ecuador, Grenada and Panama and not give those papers to anyone else. The firm has resisted Janvey’s requests for documents related to Stanford entities outside the U.S., saying those papers might belong to Stanford’s Antiguan receiver, who is overseeing liquidation of Stanford International Bank.
Stanford’s U.S. and Antiguan receivers have each claimed jurisdiction over the billionaire’s assets outside the U.S. and have issued statements that they are working to resolve their territorial dispute.
INX Inc., a Houston-based technology and communications supplier, filed a request yesterday asking Godbey to order Janvey either to pay for or return $388,580 of telecommunications and data equipment that Stanford Financial Group companies bought from December through February.
INX’s filing said the final shipment of $21,268 worth of equipment was delivered Feb. 19, after Janvey raided and closed Stanford’s Houston headquarters. An attached letter said some of the equipment may have been shipped to Stanford offices in Antigua.
The case is SEC v. Stanford International Bank, 3:09-cv- 00298-N, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).
To contact the reporter on this story: Laurel Brubaker Calkins in Houston at [email protected] .
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=asAkmv32rbEk
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