Cops Probe Death of Accused Ponzi-Schemer

Receiver wants the $1.8M Allen Stanford gave to politicians

(NEWSER) - The receiver in charge of recovering money for R. Allen Stanford's fleeced investors is trying to recover some $1.8 million the alleged Ponzi schemer gave to a host of political causes—but they refuse to return the money, Reuters reports. Among the holdouts: President Obama's campaign, and most of the Democrat and Republican parties' national fundraising committees, along with a who's who of other prominent individual politicians. The receiver, Ralph Janvey, got court orders against five campaigns last summer, but all have ignored them. More»

Prison evaluators say he's performing so badly on tests, he can't be trying

(NEWSER) - R. Allen Stanford is only pretending to have amnesia, prosecutors told a judge yesterday, urging him to declare the alleged Ponzi schemer fit to stand trial. Stanford's trial has been on hold since January, when doctors testified that he might have suffered a brain injury in a prison brawl. But prosecutors are citing a new prison evaluation that concluded that Stanford was performing so poorly on his neuropsychological tests that he must be "blatantly simulating cognitive defects." More»

Eight employees got disciplined, however

(NEWSER) - SEC staffers managed to miss Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme for more than a decade despite numerous warnings, but that is apparently not a fireable offense. The agency disciplined eight employees involved in the case, with the most severe punishment being a 30-day suspension coupled with a demotion, reports the Washington Post . The others got a range of lesser penalties, including pay cuts and, in one case, only a "counseling memo." More»

While Corzine lobbied, successfully, to curb financial regulation

(NEWSER) - MF Global appears to have spent the past two years hiding its debt risk from investors by temporarily slashing debt right before issuing its quarterly reports, in a shady-but-legal process known as “window dressing,” the Wall Street Journal reports. The company insists borrowing fluctuated due to “client facilitation activities,” but one accounting professor scoffed at that. “Every quarter, for seven quarters in a row, it’s always lower,” he said. “I’m left to wonder why client needs are always reduced at the end of the quarter.” More»

Imperial Bernie created misery all around him

(NEWSER) - A new book about Bernie Madoff's family is hitting bookstores tomorrow and depicting a miserable, greedy, vain clan of epic proportions. Here are highlights from the New York Post 's rundown of Truth and Consequences, by Laurie Sandell with cooperation from Ruth Madoff and her son Andrew:

• Bernie. A neat freak who dominated Ruth, he fooled around on her for 16 years and sexually harassed the wives and girlfriends of both his sons. With one sitting close enough to hear, he complimented her body but remarked that "she could have been heavier on top."