A former regulator has been sentenced for his role in the US$7 billion Ponzi scheme involving Stanford International Bank.
Last year, the former chief of Antigua’s Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC), Leroy King, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and one count of obstruction for his role in thwarting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investigation into the bank.
King has now been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), the SEC began investigating the bank’s founder, Allen Stanford, and Stanford Financial Group, in 2005, and made official inquiries to the FSRC regarding the value of the firm’s purported investments.
Yet the FSRC denied the SEC’s request for assistance. The DoJ reported that King told the SEC that it didn’t have the authority to aid the investigation.
“In reality, the FSRC did have this authority and failed to exercise it because of the payments and other benefits Stanford gave to King,” the DoJ said, noting that King admitted that Stanford paid him over US$500,000 and provided other inducements including Super Bowl tickets and private jet travel.
In 2012, Stanford was convicted for operating a massive investment fraud that misappropriated US$7 billion. He is currently serving a 110-year prison sentence.
The DoJ noted that five other people were also convicted for their roles in the scheme. King was the final defendant in the Stanford case.