[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 346 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 346

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the Government of Antigua 
 and Barbuda and its actions relating to the Stanford Financial Group 
                                 fraud.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 8, 2011

   Mr. Vitter (for himself, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Cochran, and Mr. Wicker) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the Government of Antigua 
 and Barbuda and its actions relating to the Stanford Financial Group 
                                 fraud.

Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has committed numerous acts 
        against the interests of United States citizens and operated the 
        financial sector and judicial system of Antigua and Barbuda in a manner 
        that is manifestly contrary to the public policy of the United States;
Whereas 20,000 investors, including many United States citizens, lost 
        $7,200,000,000 in an alleged Ponzi scheme involving fictitious 
        certificates of deposit from Stanford International Bank, an offshore 
        bank chartered in Antigua and Barbuda;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda violated the order of the United 
        States District Court for the Northern District of Texas regarding the 
        receivership proceeding initiated at the request of the United States 
        Securities and Exchange Commission (referred to in this preamble as the 
        ``Securities and Exchange Commission''), in which the court took 
        exclusive control of all the assets owned by Allen Stanford and 
        Stanford-affiliated entities around the world and documents relating to 
        those assets;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda challenged the authority of the 
        United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas by--

    (1) initiating a separate and competing liquidation proceeding for 
Stanford International Bank; and

    (2) appointing liquidators who have defied the orders of the court in 
multiple jurisdictions around the world by litigating for control of 
hundreds of millions of dollars in bank accounts in the United Kingdom, 
Switzerland, and Canada;

Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda challenged the authority of the 
        United States Department of Justice by seeking to obtain control of 
        hundreds of millions of dollars in bank accounts in the United Kingdom, 
        Switzerland, and Canada that had been frozen at the request of the 
        Department of Justice in accordance with multilateral criminal asset 
        forfeiture treaties;
Whereas the courts of Antigua and Barbuda have denied recognition of the United 
        States district court-appointed receiver for all assets of Allen 
        Stanford and Stanford-affiliated entities;
Whereas the Stanford International Bank liquidators appointed by the Eastern 
        Caribbean Court of Appeals now seek recognition of the Antigua and 
        Barbuda liquidation proceeding as a foreign insolvency proceeding under 
        chapter 15 of title 11, United States Code, in the United States 
        District Court for the Northern District of Texas;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda acknowledged in a statement in 
        March 2010 that--

    (1) Stanford International Bank ``was operating in Antigua as a transit 
point and for purposes of registration and regulation''; and

    (2) ``[t]he business of Stanford International Bank, Ltd. was run from 
Houston, Texas, and its books maintained in Memphis, Tennessee'';

Whereas Allen Stanford, the Stanford Financial Group, and the Government of 
        Antigua and Barbuda enjoyed a mutually beneficial business relationship 
        involving numerous economic development projects and loans to the 
        government of at least $85,000,000, and forensic accounting reports have 
        identified those loans as having been made from Stanford International 
        Bank certificate of deposit funds;
Whereas, in June 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Allen 
        Stanford bribed Leroy King, the chief executive officer of the Financial 
        Services Regulatory Commission of Antigua and Barbuda, to persuade Leroy 
        King to--

    (1) not investigate Stanford International Bank;

    (2) provide Allen Stanford with access to the confidential files of the 
Financial Services Regulatory Commission;

    (3) allow Allen Stanford to dictate the response of the Financial 
Services Regulatory Commission to inquiries by the Securities and Exchange 
Commission about Stanford International Bank; and

    (4) withhold information from the Securities and Exchange Commission;

Whereas, in June 2010, the United States Department of Justice indicted Leroy 
        King on criminal charges and ordered Leroy King to be extradited to the 
        United States;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda has failed to complete the process 
        of extraditing Leroy King to the United States to stand trial;
Whereas Dr. Errol Cort, who served as the Minister of Finance of Antigua and 
        Barbuda from 2004 to 2009, allegedly received more than $1,000,000 of 
        fraudulently transferred Stanford investor funds either directly or 
        indirectly through his law firm, Cort & Cort;
Whereas Cort & Cort, the law firm of Dr. Errol Cort, served as the official 
        registered agent for Stanford International Bank until June 2009;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, along with the Eastern Caribbean 
        Central Bank--

    (1) seized control and possession of the Allen Stanford-owned Bank of 
Antigua without compensation to the United States district court-appointed 
receiver;

    (2) renamed that bank the ``Eastern Caribbean Amalgamated Bank''; and

    (3) allocated a 40 percent ownership position to the Government of 
Antigua and Barbuda and 60 percent ownership to 5 Eastern Caribbean Central 
Bank member banks;

Whereas, after the fraud that the Stanford Financial Group allegedly perpetrated 
        was made public, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda expropriated 
        numerous Allen Stanford-owned properties in Antigua and Barbuda worth up 
        to several hundred million dollars, and the government has not turned 
        over those properties to the United States district court-appointed 
        receiver;
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda expropriated without compensation 
        the property known as the Half Moon Bay Resort, which is owned by a 
        group of 12 United States citizens; and
Whereas the Government of Antigua and Barbuda--

    (1) has sought and obtained loans from the International Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development and the International Development 
Association (commonly known as the ``World Bank'') and the International 
Monetary Fund; and

    (2) is the recipient of other direct and indirect aid from the United 
States: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) provision of all further direct or indirect aid or 
        assistance, including assistance derived from Federal funds, by 
        the United States Government to the Government of Antigua and 
        Barbuda should be suspended until the Government of Antigua and 
        Barbuda provides complete redress of the issues described in 
        the preamble, including through--
                    (A) the full cooperation of the Government of 
                Antigua and Barbuda and any appointee of that 
                government, including the joint liquidators of Stanford 
                International Bank, with the United States Securities 
                and Exchange Commission, the United States Department 
                of Justice, the United States district court-appointed 
                receiver, and the United States district court-
                appointed Stanford Investors Committee, in 
                investigating the Stanford Financial Group fraud and 
                marshaling the assets of Allen Stanford and all 
                Stanford-affiliated entities;
                    (B) an agreement by the Government of Antigua and 
                Barbuda to be subject to the jurisdiction and bound by 
                the judgment of any United States court that 
                adjudicates the claims relating to the Stanford 
                Financial Group fraud;
                    (C) the transfer of the assets seized by the 
                Government of Antigua and Barbuda, or obtained by the 
                joint liquidators of Stanford International Bank, to 
                the United States district court-appointed receiver for 
                the benefit of victims of the Stanford Financial Group 
                fraud;
                    (D) a contribution by the Government of Antigua and 
                Barbuda to the United States receivership estate for 
                the benefit of victims of the Stanford Financial Group 
                fraud, in an amount equal to the amount of any funds 
                that Allen Stanford or any Stanford-affiliated entity 
                provided to the Government or government officials of 
                Antigua and Barbuda;
                    (E) a contribution by the Government of Antigua and 
                Barbuda to the United States receivership estate for 
                the benefit of victims of the Stanford Financial Group 
                fraud, in an amount equal to any payments that Allen 
                Stanford or the Stanford Financial Group made to Leroy 
                King or any other official of the Government of Antigua 
                and Barbuda for the purpose of subverting regulatory 
                oversight of Stanford International Bank;
                    (F) the fulfillment by the Government of Antigua 
                and Barbuda of its obligations relating to the 
                expropriation of the Half Moon Bay Resort; and
                    (G) an agreement by the Government of Antigua and 
                Barbuda to not--
                            (i) interfere with the receivership 
                        commenced by the United States Government; and
                            (ii) seek control of assets claimed by the 
                        United States Government; and
            (2) the Secretary of the Treasury should direct the United 
        States Executive Directors of the International Bank for 
        Reconstruction and Development and the International 
        Development Association (commonly known as the ``World Bank'') 
        and the International Monetary Fund to use the voice and vote 
        of the United States to ensure that any future loan made by the 
        World Bank or the International Monetary Fund to the Government 
        of Antigua and Barbuda is conditioned on providing complete 
        redress of the matters, and satisfaction of the requirements, 
        described under paragraph (1).
                                 <all>