A brief update on Stanford (earlier posts are available here):

Evidentiary hearings scheduled for late January in the ongoing struggle for control over the financial assets of Stanford International Bank, Ltd. (SIB), the cornerstone of Allen Stanford’s financial-empire-turned-Ponzi-scheme, were cancelled by presiding US District Court Judge David Godbey.

As readers of this blog are aware, Antiguan liquidators Peter Wastell and Nigel Hamilton-Smith’s efforts to obtain recognition in the US for their Antiguan wind-up of SIB, and US receiver Ralph Janvey’s competing efforts to do the same in Canadian and UK courts, were to culminate in a hearing set for late last month.  But shortly after a scheduled status conference on pre-hearing matters, the evidentiary was cancelled.

Recent reporting by Reuters (available here) may provide a reason for the change: Reuters reported on February 5 that the liquidators and Mr. Janvey may, in fact, be settling. According to staff writer Anna Driver, a dispute over $370 million in assets traced to Stanford, as well as $200 million located in Switzerland and the UK, are driving the parties toward a deal.

But there may be other pressures as well. The Associated Press reported (here) that last Thursday, Judge Godbey indicated his intent to rule on a request by third-party investors to commence their own involuntary bankruptcy filing, thereby replacing Mr. Janvey as a receiver.

Stay tuned.

Tags: "Allen Stanford", "Antigua", "Canada", "equitable receivership", "federal receivership", "Liquidators", "Sir Allen Stanford", "Stanford International Bank Ltd.", "U.S. District Court", "United Kingdom", "United States District Court", "US Bankruptcy Court", Bankruptcy, David Godbey, federal receiver, Nigel Hamilton-Smith, Peter Wastell, Ponzi scheme, Ralph Janvey, Receivership, recognition, Stanford Financial Group, Stanford International Bank, Switzerland

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Bankruptcy, Receivership, Stanford Saga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.