SEC charges former Stanford Group executives

US securities regulators charged former officials of Stanford Group Co for their role in the demise of the brokerage and bank controlled by Ponzi-schemer Allen Stanford. Former Stanford Group Co president Daniel Bogar, former compliance officer Bernerd Young, and Jason Green, who oversaw parts of the private client group at Stanford were charged with aiding in the fraud, according to an order made public Friday instituting administrative proceedings against them.
In the order, the SEC alleged that the three executives knew or should have known that offering documents in connection to certificates of deposits sold by Stanford International Bank were false or misleading. Instead, the SEC alleged, they encouraged their colleagues to use the incomplete offering documents to help sell the CDs. In a statement, Green's lawyers, John Kincade and George Freeman, said that Green had no knowledge of the fraud.
"We look forward to the opportunity to clear Mr Green's name, and we are confident we will succeed," they said. Lawyers for Bogar and Young did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Allen Stanford was sentenced in June to 110 years in prison for bilking investors with fraudulent CDs by Stanford International Bank, his bank in Antigua.
Separately, on Friday the SEC settled allegations of securities fraud against Jay Comeaux, who managed the brokerage's Houston branch office, according to a filing that instituted administrative proceedings against him. Comeaux, who settled the case without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, faces a bar from the industry, and may face penalties that have not yet been determined, the SEC said.
Comeaux was responsible for supervising the brokerage's financial consultants, and received commissions of at least $1.3 million on the sales of fraudulent CDs, the SEC said. According to the SEC, Comeaux knew that the bank wouldn't disclose details of its investment holdings, but still used marketing material that told investors that the bank maintained a "well-diversified portfolio of highly marketable securities." A lawyer for Comeaux did not immediately respond to a request for comment.