Stanford International Bank short $6 billion

As initially suspected, it looks the Stanford International Bank was indeed a Ponzi scheme. It looks like the bank's liabilities exceed assets by $6 billion:

The Caribbean offshore bank at the centre of an alleged Ponzi scheme by a wealthy Texas businessman has a $6-billion (U.S.) shortfall between assets and liabilities, a court-appointed liquidator reported Friday, confirming fears that investors will likely get little of their money back.

Stanford International Bank Ltd. in Antigua, run by financier R. Allen Stanford, owed about $7.2-billion, including interest, when regulators closed it in February after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged it was offering fraudulent certificates of deposit, the liquidators said in a letter to investors.

But the liquidators said they have found less than $1-billion in assets, including just $46-million in cash at accounts in Antigua, Canada, the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

The cause of the “very significant shortfall” is unknown at this time but the records “indicate that a Ponzi scheme ... had been in operation,” the liquidators, Nigel Hamilton-Smith and Peter Wastell of Vantis Business Recovery Services, said in the report.


If it weren't for the Madoff Ponzi scheme, this may actually be the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Truly unfortunate for the victims. The Madoff scheme only directly impacted wealthy investors or institutional investors, whereas this one likely impacts the average person. Since the main bank is in the Carribean, I'm not sure if any of the deposits or the issued CDs are insured (The Texas, as well as Canadian and other operations, will be insured but not sure about the main Carribean headquarter bank.)

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