The court-appointed receiver for R. Allen Stanford ‘s businesses asked a judge to evict the Texas financier’s adult daughter and her mother from a Houston condominium so it can be sold to help repay victims of an alleged $7 billion fraud.
Ralph Janvey, the receiver for Stanford’s corporate and personal assets, told U.S. District Judge David Godbey in papers filed yesterday in Dallas that Randi Stanford should be held in contempt of court and evicted for refusing to accommodate efforts to sell her home.
“Ms. Stanford has not only refused to cooperate with the receiver, but has also asserted to the receiver that she is entitled to the condo as her homestead because it was a gift” from her father, said Kevin Sadler, a lawyer for Janvey, in the filing in the lawsuit against Allen Stanford. The financier also faces criminal charges he ran a Ponzi scheme.
Randi Stanford, 26, and her mother, Susan Stanford, who is in divorce proceedings with her estranged husband, share a 16th- floor, 2,800-square-foot condominium in Houston’s upscale River Oaks neighborhood. The two-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath unit is valued at $1.3 million on local tax rolls and has been the primary residence of the eldest of Stanford’s six children for several years.
Sadler told Godbey that Janvey offered to let Randi Stanford stay in the condo “rent-free,” provided she kept it “maintained in a manner conducive to effective marketing” and made it available for showing to prospective buyers on three- hours’ notice. He said she could have 30 days’ notice to vacate once the property is sold.
Mother’s Move
Susan Stanford moved in with her daughter this year after publicity from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Allen Stanford made it difficult to continue living in a Houston mansion that was awarded to her in temporary support orders signed by the judge overseeing her divorce.
Janvey previously identified Randi Stanford’s condo and Susan Stanford’s $2.4 million, 7,000-square-foot mansion in court papers as Stanford-owned real estate that could be sold to repay defrauded investors.
Randy Burton, listed in court papers as Randi Stanford’s lawyer, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment after regular business hours yesterday.
The SEC and federal prosecutors accuse Stanford, several of his top executives and three of his companies of running a scheme that paid investors “improbable if not impossible” returns on certificates of deposit at Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd., by repaying early investors with funds taken from new ones.
Stanford, who is in jail without bond awaiting trial, has denied all wrongdoing. If convicted of the most serious of 21 fraud, conspiracy and obstruction counts, he faces life in prison.
The civil case is SEC v. Stanford International Bank, 3:09- cv-00298-N, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas). The criminal case is U.S. v. Stanford, H-09-342, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a2bRXWIh8pqQ
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