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By Jonathan Stempel
Sept 20 (Reuters) - A court-appointed receiver has recouped
more than $1 billion for victims of Texas financier Allen
Stanford's Ponzi scheme, the largest by dollar amount other than
Bernard Madoff's fraud, the receiver's lawyers said on Monday.
The threshold was crossed when Ralph Janvey, the receiver
for Stanford Financial Group, received $65 million from a June
2016 settlement with insurers including Lloyd's of London, which
won final court approval in January after years of litigation.
Janvey expects to distribute money from the settlement in
the first quarter of 2022. As of April 29, he had received court
approval to distribute about $550 million, and had distributed
$443 million.
Once considered a billionaire but later declared indigent,
Stanford, 71, is serving a 110-year prison sentence following
his 2012 conviction for running a $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme
affecting approximately 18,000 former investors.
Prosecutors said Stanford sold fraudulent high-yielding
certificates of deposit through his Antigua-based Stanford
International Bank, and used investor money to make risky
investments and fund a lavish lifestyle.
The fraud lasted about two decades, and was uncovered in
February 2009.
"When the receivership started, the receiver found only $63
million in a bank that was supposed to be holding more than $7
billion," Kevin Sadler, a Baker Botts partner representing
Janvey, said in an interview. "It has taken more than 12 years,
but getting to $1 billion is a significant achievement."
More recoveries are possible.
Janvey is defending against appeals from a $124.9 million
judgment he won against Colorado billionaire Gary Magness.
He is also working with the Official Stanford Investors
Committee on a $4 billion lawsuit against five former Stanford
banks including HSBC, Societe Generale and TD
Bank.
Last month, U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas
rejected HSBC's and Societe Generale's bids to dismiss that
case.
Recovery efforts from Madoff's Ponzi scheme have recouped
more than $18 billion for victims.
Madoff died in April at age 82 while serving a 150-year
prison term. His fraud was uncovered in December 2008.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
