Stanford Financial Group Chief Investment Officer Charged with Obstruction

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON – Laura Pendergest-Holt, the chief investment officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group (SFG), was arrested today by agents of the FBI’s Houston Field Office on a criminal complaint charging her with obstruction of a proceeding before an agency of the United States, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Rita M. Glavin and Special Agent in Charge of the Houston Division of the FBI, Andrew R. Bland, III. Pendergest-Holt will make her initial appearance on Friday, Feb. 27, 2009, before U.S. Magistrate Mary Milloy at the federal courthouse in Houston. According to the complaint, Pendergest-Holt met on Feb. 10, 2009, with representatives of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the SEC’s Fort Worth, Texas, regional office based on an SEC subpoena. According to the complaint, the SEC summoned Pendergest-Holt to testify in its investigation into allegations that SFG and related companies, including the Stanford International Bank (SIB), had defrauded investors and account holders of an estimated $8 billion in deposits. The complaint alleges Pendergest-Holt made several affirmative misrepresentations to the SEC in order to obstruct its investigation. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Pendergest-Holt met with several SFG corporate officers in Miami during the week of Feb. 2, 2009, to prepare for her upcoming testimony before SEC staff scheduled a week later. Pendergast-Holt is alleged to have discussed with those corporate officers the SIB’s "Tier III" Portfolio, using a computer-generated pie chart she created.”