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Friday, February 3, 2012
Allen Stanford directed his executives to falsify investment returns, threatened to
fire them if they revealed US$2 billion he secretly borrowed from his Antiguan bank
and approved of office affairs, according to witnesses at his criminal fraud trial.
I was involved in faking the numbers, but he was the chief faker, James M Davis,
Stanford Financial Group Co. former chief financial officer, told jurors yesterday at
Stanford's trial in federal court in Houston. He'd been faking even before I came on
board.
Davis, 63, is testifying against his ex-boss and former Baylor University roommate
as part of a plea deal. Davis pleaded guilty in 2009 to helping Stanford swindle investors of more than US$7 billion through bogus certificates of deposit at Antigua-based Stanford International Bank. Davis faces as long as 30 years in prison.
Davis testified that Stanford approved of a three-year affair Davis had with Laura Pendergest Holt, whom he met through a university Bible study run by Davis and his
wife. Holt, who also has been criminally charged in the fraud scheme, was promoted to chief investment officer of Stanford Financial after the affair ended in 2003.
That's good; she'll be loyal, Davis testified Stanford told him upon learning that two of his top lieutenants were having an affair. Davis also told jurors that Stanford
reassured Holt at a private meeting the three had in 2007 that she could trust him that the banks assets were invested as Stanford said they were. Holt has denied any
involvement in the alleged fraud scheme.
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