Antigua government minister sued for US$1 million
Friday February 18 2011 | 06:36 AM

Former finance minister, now national security minister, Dr Errol Cort was caught by surprise yesterday when a US $1 million lawsuit was filed against him by former investors in the Stanford International Bank (SIB).

The claim against him was among more than a dozen “fraudulent transfer” lawsuits, totaling US $25 million, filed by the Official Stanford Investors Committee and court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey.

“I have absolutely no knowledge of that. I would be most surprised but I have not been notified whatsoever,” Dr Cort told The Daily OBSERVER when contacted after the news broke yesterday evening.

The suits were all filed on the day of the deadline for making claims – exactly two years to the date that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil charges against the former financier for his alleged US $7 billion fraud.

The claim against Dr Cort refers to his tenure as minister of finance, a post he held up until the last general elections in 2009.

Edward Valdespino, an attorney for the investors committee, highlighted in the complaint that Dr Cort had “direct oversight of the government’s offshore banking regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC),” whose regulation of Stanford’s companies the lawyer described as “a sham”.

Former FSRC administrator Leroy King, who was indicted in the US in 2009 for allegedly accepting bribes from Stanford, was not named in the suit. King is fighting his extradition in the local courts.

According to US media reports, in addition to suing Dr Cort, the investors and Janvey have sued the St Jude Children’s Research Hospital for US $7.4 million; the Center for Strategic and International Studies – a Washington think-tank – for US $2 million; The Golf Channel for US $5.9 million; Stanford board members; and organisers of major sporting events funded by the flashy billionaire before his empire collapsed.

Other lawsuits, totaling US $500 million, have previously been filed.

Janvey has already said that even if he gets all the money he’s seeking, it will not be nearly enough to reimburse the approximately 28,000 investors who were allegedly defrauded. So far, only US$ 188 million in cash has been recovered.

Meantime, fraud-accused Stanford is expected to begin his treatment for addiction to anti-depressants soon.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that a US Bureau of Prisons spokesman said Stanford on Monday left the Houston, Texas detention facility where he had been awaiting trial, but a gag order in the case prevented him or Stanford’s attorney from saying where he was taken.

However, the news agency said that the order by US District Judge David Hittner, who postponed Stanford’s trial until he can beat his addiction, recommended that he be taken to a medical facility at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina where jailed American financier Bernard Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence