[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 188 (Thursday, December 8, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8464-S8465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 346--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
   GOVERNMENT OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA AND ITS ACTIONS RELATING TO THE 
                     STANFORD FINANCIAL GROUP FRAUD

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

                              S. Res. 346

       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

[[Page S8465]]

     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).

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