Stanford receivers on the hunt for assets of 28,000 clients

Receivers appointed by Vantis are looking to reclaim the assets of 28,000 clients that invested in Stanford International Bank and Stanford Trust Company, two companies at the centre of an $8bn (£5.5bn) fraud investigation by the SEC.

Vantis partners Nigel Hamilton-Smith and Peter Wastell said they had put a figure on the amount of cash invested by clients, but did not know how much SIB and STC held in assets to pay back investors.

Hamilton-Smith and Wastell were appointed by the Financial Services Regulatory Commission of Antigua and Barbuda as joint receivers of the two companies last week in the wake of an SEC investigation.

'Following our appointment , we have thus far been able to identify the amounts invested by clients and have put arrangements in place for the Receiver-Manager’s team and staff at [SIB and STC] to deal with client enquiries,' they said.

The pair have started the process of communicating with the financial institutions they have identified as holding assets on behalf of SIB and STC.

They are also seeking co-operation arrangements with the US Receiver to help with more asset identification work, but the amount Stanford had in the bank to pay investors back was unknown.

'At this time we are unable to ascertain the total value of assets held or report on the timescale for the return of monies to investors. Our priority is to safeguard the interests of investors, identify and preserve assets and together with the international regulators and authorities and the US Receiver; we are working to complete these investigations as quickly as possible to avoid further inconvenience to SIB and STC's customers.'

'We have set up an email (stanfordenquiries@vantisplc.com) for all investor enquiries and have ensured that up to date statements can be issued to all clients, totaling some 28,000, by month end,' the receivers added.